Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
PHP/I WANT A BIG MAC 2001
Devilcake "Pie Hair Pie/I Want a Big Mac 2001" Youtube
I guess enough years have passed on this one for everyone to be at least slightly objective about it. Maybe?
This gig was a smeg-load of 'firsts' and 'lasts', a truly transitional point in the history of Devilcake. It was Darrin's first gig ever, my first & last Devilcake gig playing guitar, um... Ray on bass, Todd on keyboards. Mike Bill on guitar and Mike Gourley singing. This is possibly the FASTEST "Pie Hair Pie" and "I Want a Big Mac" ever!
Darrin and Todd can weigh in further....
You can see how overwhelmed I was with being liberated from playing drums. I literally could not make up my mind how to proceed on guitar, with my 'costume' (I think we were wearing costumes at that point, right?), it was like a caveman seeing fire for the first time. Or using a wheel. This video captures it all. Guitar behind the head within the first two minutes.... trying not to jump onto my amp....
And I remember vague talk of us all doing a side to side choreographed thing during "I Want a Big Mac," but as you can see I was the only one who followed through. Maybe it's funnier that way. I guess we'll never know!
HERE's the original gig blog...
I guess enough years have passed on this one for everyone to be at least slightly objective about it. Maybe?
This gig was a smeg-load of 'firsts' and 'lasts', a truly transitional point in the history of Devilcake. It was Darrin's first gig ever, my first & last Devilcake gig playing guitar, um... Ray on bass, Todd on keyboards. Mike Bill on guitar and Mike Gourley singing. This is possibly the FASTEST "Pie Hair Pie" and "I Want a Big Mac" ever!
Darrin and Todd can weigh in further....
You can see how overwhelmed I was with being liberated from playing drums. I literally could not make up my mind how to proceed on guitar, with my 'costume' (I think we were wearing costumes at that point, right?), it was like a caveman seeing fire for the first time. Or using a wheel. This video captures it all. Guitar behind the head within the first two minutes.... trying not to jump onto my amp....
And I remember vague talk of us all doing a side to side choreographed thing during "I Want a Big Mac," but as you can see I was the only one who followed through. Maybe it's funnier that way. I guess we'll never know!
HERE's the original gig blog...
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Madlab Saturday July 14, 2007
SAMARKAND | LARRY MAROTTA + RYAN JEWELL | REMORA | DEVILCAKE
Madlab
Columbus, OH
Saturday, July 14 2007
Devilcake is still in unplugged mode. I'm getting better at rocking quietly on the drums but it's not easy. We didn't have a set list but it was okay. And the triple digits audience was totally into the show. We were one guitarist short but we made up for it somehow. Michael Bill played his new Ashbory bass exclusively & it sounded pretty damn hotttt for a little black fake ukelele with plastic strings. Obviously I loved jamming out to all the old old classics like "Soft Batch Mama," "Guacamole Damn It" and "Deez Nuts." Gourley filled in for our missing guitarist with a few choice notes on the harmonica. And what a triumph of human endeavor it is when every single person in the room is clapping over their heads in time to "Pizza Party." Ladies and gentlemen, we are DEVILCAKE!!!
Devilcake played
CARMEL KNOWLEDGE
SALAD BAR MAN
CHICKEN NUGGETS OF SIN
PIE HAIR PIE
GUACAMOLE DAMN IT
SOFT BATCH MAMA
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT SATAN
HANDS OFF MY OREOS
FRIBBLE
PIZZA PARTY
DEEZ NUTS
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Devilcake Unplugged....May 27, 2007 Andyman's Treehouse
2007-05-27
MEN OF GENTLE BIRTH
DEVILCAKE
COLTRANE MOTION
ELECTRIC GRANDMOTHER
Sunday night was the big Memorial Day Weekend blowout at Andyman's Treehouse, curated by Electric Grandmother. For many of us it was our first time at the Treehouse. And perhaps our last. Ha.
I arrived early, but again not as early as Michelle & Brian, who were already maxing out on the couch when I got there. We had plenty of time to kill & get acquainted with the, um, odd, venue. So many rooms. The biggest of which, oddly, was the dressing room area?
Of course the cramped little room with the big fucking tree in the middle was where theee action was to take place. A band was setting up while everyone else in our band arrived & dragged their gear back to the dressing room. Men Of Gentle Birth.... they were loud as shit, spunky as a monkey and I don't know, if I was 10 years younger, they'd be my new favorite band. Their songs were screamy but atmospheric too, kind of effortlessly forced, rocking like shit and I don't know, gracefully awkward. Like Sonic Youth a bit. Sure, why not. I enjoyed them immensely while I assembled my drums in the dressing room.
It only took me 16 years to realize that setting my shit up beforehand = the key to success. Be prepared. So when our turn came to rock, we did so with ease. Or something.
It was the inaugural Devilcake Unplugged show. Everyone in the band sat on stools. It was funny as shit. The tiny room we played in was very quiet. Like, silent between songs. It's a strange sensation. But, fortunately, the audience seemed to be on our side, so everything went quite well. For the most part.
During rehearsals for the unplugged show, we broke out a ton of old songs, most of which Brian had never even heard. I rediscovered my love for opening the show with Pie Hair Pie. Which is what we were gonna do. But somehow we opted for Fribble up top instead? Again?
Gourley busted out the harmonica on several traxx. The audience was so great, they didn't miss a thing. It was a really special evening. And, I'm scared to say, it was like the most mature & musically serious thing we've ever done. Strange.
Steve led the charge of twang & the rest of us followed. Brian broke a string about halfway through the set, I think.. The room was quiet enough between songs that Michael Bill had everyone laughing several times. It was that kind of night, kick ass & really strange.
We played
Fribble
Pie Hair Pie
Wienermobile
Hands Off My Oreos
Stromboli Fever
I Can't Believe It's Not Satan
Salad Bar Man
Burn Sandwich Burn
I Want A Big Mac
Chicken Nuggets of Sin
Marshmallow
encore
Pizza Party
And again we let Pizza Party get away from us. We need a better encore song! I don't know why it falls apart...
It was a challenge for me to play drums quietly. I bet I was louder than everyone else combined.... I hope not. I did use brushes on Salad Bar Man but it was totally pointless because I was beating the hell out of them. But after all the trouble I went through to get 'em, I felt like I had to break the sombitches out at least once.
Everyone agreed afterward that it was a lot of fun to play unplugged & that we should definitely do more shows this way.
MEN OF GENTLE BIRTH
DEVILCAKE
COLTRANE MOTION
ELECTRIC GRANDMOTHER
Sunday night was the big Memorial Day Weekend blowout at Andyman's Treehouse, curated by Electric Grandmother. For many of us it was our first time at the Treehouse. And perhaps our last. Ha.
I arrived early, but again not as early as Michelle & Brian, who were already maxing out on the couch when I got there. We had plenty of time to kill & get acquainted with the, um, odd, venue. So many rooms. The biggest of which, oddly, was the dressing room area?
Of course the cramped little room with the big fucking tree in the middle was where theee action was to take place. A band was setting up while everyone else in our band arrived & dragged their gear back to the dressing room. Men Of Gentle Birth.... they were loud as shit, spunky as a monkey and I don't know, if I was 10 years younger, they'd be my new favorite band. Their songs were screamy but atmospheric too, kind of effortlessly forced, rocking like shit and I don't know, gracefully awkward. Like Sonic Youth a bit. Sure, why not. I enjoyed them immensely while I assembled my drums in the dressing room.
It only took me 16 years to realize that setting my shit up beforehand = the key to success. Be prepared. So when our turn came to rock, we did so with ease. Or something.
It was the inaugural Devilcake Unplugged show. Everyone in the band sat on stools. It was funny as shit. The tiny room we played in was very quiet. Like, silent between songs. It's a strange sensation. But, fortunately, the audience seemed to be on our side, so everything went quite well. For the most part.
During rehearsals for the unplugged show, we broke out a ton of old songs, most of which Brian had never even heard. I rediscovered my love for opening the show with Pie Hair Pie. Which is what we were gonna do. But somehow we opted for Fribble up top instead? Again?
Gourley busted out the harmonica on several traxx. The audience was so great, they didn't miss a thing. It was a really special evening. And, I'm scared to say, it was like the most mature & musically serious thing we've ever done. Strange.
Steve led the charge of twang & the rest of us followed. Brian broke a string about halfway through the set, I think.. The room was quiet enough between songs that Michael Bill had everyone laughing several times. It was that kind of night, kick ass & really strange.
We played
Fribble
Pie Hair Pie
Wienermobile
Hands Off My Oreos
Stromboli Fever
I Can't Believe It's Not Satan
Salad Bar Man
Burn Sandwich Burn
I Want A Big Mac
Chicken Nuggets of Sin
Marshmallow
encore
Pizza Party
And again we let Pizza Party get away from us. We need a better encore song! I don't know why it falls apart...
It was a challenge for me to play drums quietly. I bet I was louder than everyone else combined.... I hope not. I did use brushes on Salad Bar Man but it was totally pointless because I was beating the hell out of them. But after all the trouble I went through to get 'em, I felt like I had to break the sombitches out at least once.
Everyone agreed afterward that it was a lot of fun to play unplugged & that we should definitely do more shows this way.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Black Metal Birthday
2007-03-31
Thee Ravari Tomb
DEVILCAKE + 10 other bands.......
The gig was Charlie Aggression's present to himself. He asked all of his favorite local metal bands to play his birthday for free. All 11 of us.
The event kicked off early, like 6:30pm. Devilcake played later, like in the 9:30pm region.
Let's see, we hadn't rehearsed in like three weeks & I was pretty rusty on the drums at our night-before practice session. We (or was it Satan) pieced together a 25-minute set, tight as ya like. Heavy on the heavy, light on the relief.
I got to Theee Ravariiie Tomb at 8:30, just in time to find Brian & Michelle walking around to the back door. Except they didn't know which door was the actual, like, door to get in through. That sentence makes sense if you've been there.
So, we were the first ones in the place. Gourley pulled up two seconds later, um, carrying my drums in his car. What a guy. I graciously gave him a hand with carrying all of my shit into the place. Ha. Then Michael Bill & Ashley appeared in the parking lot just like two apparitions. One big one with a ZOMBY WOOF shirt.
A band was finishing their set as we walked in. And after about 10 minutes, the next band started & they were heavy as shit. I mean, heavy heavy and professional. They totally had their shit together. They were so much heavier than us. Like, um, Opeth without all the wimpy parts. Just, blastbeats and death grooves and what have you. I mean, damn. I couldn't hear their name.
The place gradually filled up with metalheads of all description. Another band played, whose name I also didn't catch. They were a very loud trio that played something like progressive death metal noise. Um, like Stickdog plus Fudge Tunnel or whatever. Not bad for 20 minutes.
Steve & Rachel came in at that point. I was relieved to see that Rachel didn't opt for the Shaw Blades show after all. So her Devilcake attendance record is still clean.
Then it was our turn to, uh, do our thing. I was going to say it was our turn to rock, but was it really? "Rock" is a relative term. We were like comic relief after the unbelievable heaviness of the day. Except no one really laughed except us. Again.
For the first time in the modern era, I actually set all my drum shit up BEFORE we went on stage. Imagine that! And also for the first time in the modern era, I played decently & settled into a groove immediately. Holy frickin' crap!?!!??!
Steve, unfortunately, had no such luck as we were rushed along by the soundman before our set. His guitar was getting no signal & it was kind of scary for a few minutes there. Luckily he figured it out & we were able to launch into the set... which was something along the lines of
WIENERMOBILE
I WANT A BIG MAC
HANDS OFF MY OREOS
FRIBBLE
CARMEL KNOWLEDGE
MARSHMALLOW
PIZZA PARTY
BURN SANDWICH BURN
Oh man, I was sweatin' up a storm. I broke two, count 'em, TWO sticks. I was beating the hell out of everything & the mic on the mounted tom kept falling off, impeding my savagery. And then the bass drum beater kept getting stuck in my pants. Ha. My cheap-ass cymbal stands crept toward the edge of the drum riser every time I hit them. Which was often, obviously.
And yet I still found time to sing along, act a fool, have some fun. It was nice.
I don't think Gourley was as into it as usual. He seemed kind of subdued, maybe all of the metal-studded black metal fans & bands in the audience were putting him off. I don't know. Michael Bill and Brian were rock solid. Except I couldn't hear Brian on the last couple of songs. I think he had fun, it was his first gig ever.
I think Big Mac was pretty damn heavy, at least it sounded good to me. I love Burn Sandwich Burn but it was just a punishing dirge after I blew my proverbial (okay, actual) wad during Pizza Party. See, I thought we'd finish with Pizza Party & be done. But no.
As soon as we finished playing, I started pulling all of my stuff off the stage, which, again, I don't usually do. I usually just stand on the drum riser like a big tit that's in the way. And take my sweet time breaking stuff down. Not no mo'.
Then I had a 'pizza party' of my own over in the corner, with the two cold Hound Dog's pizzas that Gourley got earlier. Mmmmmm, forbidden cheesy pizza. I was literally trying to break down stands with one hand & hold pizza with the other. Typically shambolic.
So, there you have it. Another Devilcake gig in which we didn't sound like any of the other bands & we just alienated everyone but laughed at ourselves in the process.
Thee Ravari Tomb
DEVILCAKE + 10 other bands.......
The gig was Charlie Aggression's present to himself. He asked all of his favorite local metal bands to play his birthday for free. All 11 of us.
The event kicked off early, like 6:30pm. Devilcake played later, like in the 9:30pm region.
Let's see, we hadn't rehearsed in like three weeks & I was pretty rusty on the drums at our night-before practice session. We (or was it Satan) pieced together a 25-minute set, tight as ya like. Heavy on the heavy, light on the relief.
I got to Theee Ravariiie Tomb at 8:30, just in time to find Brian & Michelle walking around to the back door. Except they didn't know which door was the actual, like, door to get in through. That sentence makes sense if you've been there.
So, we were the first ones in the place. Gourley pulled up two seconds later, um, carrying my drums in his car. What a guy. I graciously gave him a hand with carrying all of my shit into the place. Ha. Then Michael Bill & Ashley appeared in the parking lot just like two apparitions. One big one with a ZOMBY WOOF shirt.
A band was finishing their set as we walked in. And after about 10 minutes, the next band started & they were heavy as shit. I mean, heavy heavy and professional. They totally had their shit together. They were so much heavier than us. Like, um, Opeth without all the wimpy parts. Just, blastbeats and death grooves and what have you. I mean, damn. I couldn't hear their name.
The place gradually filled up with metalheads of all description. Another band played, whose name I also didn't catch. They were a very loud trio that played something like progressive death metal noise. Um, like Stickdog plus Fudge Tunnel or whatever. Not bad for 20 minutes.
Steve & Rachel came in at that point. I was relieved to see that Rachel didn't opt for the Shaw Blades show after all. So her Devilcake attendance record is still clean.
Then it was our turn to, uh, do our thing. I was going to say it was our turn to rock, but was it really? "Rock" is a relative term. We were like comic relief after the unbelievable heaviness of the day. Except no one really laughed except us. Again.
For the first time in the modern era, I actually set all my drum shit up BEFORE we went on stage. Imagine that! And also for the first time in the modern era, I played decently & settled into a groove immediately. Holy frickin' crap!?!!??!
Steve, unfortunately, had no such luck as we were rushed along by the soundman before our set. His guitar was getting no signal & it was kind of scary for a few minutes there. Luckily he figured it out & we were able to launch into the set... which was something along the lines of
WIENERMOBILE
I WANT A BIG MAC
HANDS OFF MY OREOS
FRIBBLE
CARMEL KNOWLEDGE
MARSHMALLOW
PIZZA PARTY
BURN SANDWICH BURN
Oh man, I was sweatin' up a storm. I broke two, count 'em, TWO sticks. I was beating the hell out of everything & the mic on the mounted tom kept falling off, impeding my savagery. And then the bass drum beater kept getting stuck in my pants. Ha. My cheap-ass cymbal stands crept toward the edge of the drum riser every time I hit them. Which was often, obviously.
And yet I still found time to sing along, act a fool, have some fun. It was nice.
I don't think Gourley was as into it as usual. He seemed kind of subdued, maybe all of the metal-studded black metal fans & bands in the audience were putting him off. I don't know. Michael Bill and Brian were rock solid. Except I couldn't hear Brian on the last couple of songs. I think he had fun, it was his first gig ever.
I think Big Mac was pretty damn heavy, at least it sounded good to me. I love Burn Sandwich Burn but it was just a punishing dirge after I blew my proverbial (okay, actual) wad during Pizza Party. See, I thought we'd finish with Pizza Party & be done. But no.
As soon as we finished playing, I started pulling all of my stuff off the stage, which, again, I don't usually do. I usually just stand on the drum riser like a big tit that's in the way. And take my sweet time breaking stuff down. Not no mo'.
Then I had a 'pizza party' of my own over in the corner, with the two cold Hound Dog's pizzas that Gourley got earlier. Mmmmmm, forbidden cheesy pizza. I was literally trying to break down stands with one hand & hold pizza with the other. Typically shambolic.
So, there you have it. Another Devilcake gig in which we didn't sound like any of the other bands & we just alienated everyone but laughed at ourselves in the process.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 at Ravari Room
FOOL'S CROWN
DEVILCAKE
EVE OF SHADOW
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Ravari Room
It was kind of a strange night all around, so I'll have to rely on the opinions of everyone else.
Eve of Shadow included members of a band we played with in the Midgard Comics days. They were like a black metal version of Korn or something. The keyboard dude headbanged more than everyone. It was cool.
Fool's Crown included Jim Swanson, whom I've known for approximately forever. I think since about 1985 or 1986, something like that. I haven't seen him in a long long long time, so long that I did no recognize him at first. We were in a band together in the late 80s. He's easily the greatest drummer I've played with. And the dude isn't even a full-time drummer.
In Fool's Crown he plays bass. So, there. I mean, I play bass and drums but Jim SLAYS on all instrumentation. Me, I just have a go. That's all I can do is have a go. Take a crack, that kind of thing. At any rate, it was sweet as pie to see Jim.
Meanwhile I think Michael Bill had the biggest posse in the whole place. I can't say I saw that one coming. But hey, it's about damn time.
The venue was not packed out to the gills. Not overrun with drunks like last time. Just a nice clutch of hardcore peeps down front for the whole set.
And can I just say that it cracks me up that Michael Bill can still come up with shit like asking...what's the stupidest song we could open with, that we've never opened with before? Answer below.
The set was a humorous blend. Drumming-wise, I didn't have as many problems as last time. I knew in advance which pieces of the drum set would come loose during every song. Playing-wise, I threw a few clangers. But, again, hopefully not as many as last time.
I do think the BURN SANDWICH BURN into SAUERKRAUT LURKING followed by I WANT A FUCKING BIG MAC before MARSHMALLOW was kind of a long bunch of plodding. But that's what happens when we insist on using John Cage approved methods of chance determination for setlist construction.
We played
CHICKEN NUGGETS OF SIN (with the old school BOOOBIEESSSSS intro)
PIZZA PARTY
BURN SANDWICH BURN
SAUERKRAUT LURKING
I WANT A FUCKING BIG MAC
MARSHMALLOW
CARMEL KNOWLEDGE
HANDS OFF MY MOTHERFUCKING OREOS
SALAD BAR MAN (including BLACK SABBATH'S "RAT SALAD" in the middle)
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT SATAN
WEENUSMOBILE
FRIBBLE
I didn't break anything or drop anything. I did get blisters on my hands & fingers though. Which is fine. I didn't draw blood, so it's all fine.
Steve sounded great. Michael Bill sounded great. Gourley was on fire, as usual.
Oh yeah & the soundman kicked ass. He apparently works/worked at Thee Alrosa, so he's got his shit together. & the rumor is that he was running sound at Alrosa on THE infamous night there. Fuck.
So anyway. See y'all next month, hopefully. Hopefully my glam rock alter ego will be signing in.
PRETTY PLEEZE!!!!
DEVILCAKE
EVE OF SHADOW
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Ravari Room
It was kind of a strange night all around, so I'll have to rely on the opinions of everyone else.
Eve of Shadow included members of a band we played with in the Midgard Comics days. They were like a black metal version of Korn or something. The keyboard dude headbanged more than everyone. It was cool.
Fool's Crown included Jim Swanson, whom I've known for approximately forever. I think since about 1985 or 1986, something like that. I haven't seen him in a long long long time, so long that I did no recognize him at first. We were in a band together in the late 80s. He's easily the greatest drummer I've played with. And the dude isn't even a full-time drummer.
In Fool's Crown he plays bass. So, there. I mean, I play bass and drums but Jim SLAYS on all instrumentation. Me, I just have a go. That's all I can do is have a go. Take a crack, that kind of thing. At any rate, it was sweet as pie to see Jim.
Meanwhile I think Michael Bill had the biggest posse in the whole place. I can't say I saw that one coming. But hey, it's about damn time.
The venue was not packed out to the gills. Not overrun with drunks like last time. Just a nice clutch of hardcore peeps down front for the whole set.
And can I just say that it cracks me up that Michael Bill can still come up with shit like asking...what's the stupidest song we could open with, that we've never opened with before? Answer below.
The set was a humorous blend. Drumming-wise, I didn't have as many problems as last time. I knew in advance which pieces of the drum set would come loose during every song. Playing-wise, I threw a few clangers. But, again, hopefully not as many as last time.
I do think the BURN SANDWICH BURN into SAUERKRAUT LURKING followed by I WANT A FUCKING BIG MAC before MARSHMALLOW was kind of a long bunch of plodding. But that's what happens when we insist on using John Cage approved methods of chance determination for setlist construction.
We played
CHICKEN NUGGETS OF SIN (with the old school BOOOBIEESSSSS intro)
PIZZA PARTY
BURN SANDWICH BURN
SAUERKRAUT LURKING
I WANT A FUCKING BIG MAC
MARSHMALLOW
CARMEL KNOWLEDGE
HANDS OFF MY MOTHERFUCKING OREOS
SALAD BAR MAN (including BLACK SABBATH'S "RAT SALAD" in the middle)
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT SATAN
WEENUSMOBILE
FRIBBLE
I didn't break anything or drop anything. I did get blisters on my hands & fingers though. Which is fine. I didn't draw blood, so it's all fine.
Steve sounded great. Michael Bill sounded great. Gourley was on fire, as usual.
Oh yeah & the soundman kicked ass. He apparently works/worked at Thee Alrosa, so he's got his shit together. & the rumor is that he was running sound at Alrosa on THE infamous night there. Fuck.
So anyway. See y'all next month, hopefully. Hopefully my glam rock alter ego will be signing in.
PRETTY PLEEZE!!!!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
JULY 1, 2006 RAVARI ROOM
Around 1am I BOLTED up to Ravari Room. MCB and Steve were outside. we chatted briefly while a band finished playing. Then we took our shit in. By "we" I mean "they". Gourley not only drove my drums there, but he loaded them in too. It was super sweet.
Assembling the drums was baffling. I took a long time and even once I thought everything was in place, it really wasn't. Good god. The fucking snare drum moved every time I hit it! Ditto for the wimpy fucking crash cymbal stand. It inched away slowly. Hm. I wanted it raw and brutal, didn't I.
The snare and hi-hat were interfering with each other. The snare mic kept falling off the little clippy stand thing. No one noticed. The hi-hat cymbals were just flappy & loose pretty much the whole time. And the tom mics blocked the heads! Shambolic.
Good god. And remember how excited I was about all the new arrangements we've been working on? Feh. Forgotten. Almost entirely. I played my old old old drum parts when I could remember them.
Marshmallow got off to a decent start. I'm getting ahead of myself already though. Gourley has worked at Ravari Room for a couple of years now, I think. All the people who work there (it's a small army) just know him as this nice, quiet, calm dude. So they all went APESHIT when they saw him with devil horns and no shirt on. He was already running through his repetoire of opening lines before we even started playing. WE ARE DEVILCAKE! FROM COLUMBUS OHIO! The audience was very drunk but happily so and very um dancey. I haven't seen such disgraceful moshing and shoving between Devilcake audience members in decades, it was excellent.
Okay, so Marshmallow. I remembered to play it slow as shit. After that... I was lucky to finish a couple of the songs. Ha. Wienermobile, my new nemesis - due to the tempo & the fiddliness - I accidentally took that one at full speed. It was a mistake to play it that fast. Oh well. It kicked my ass but I only missed a couple of beats. Salad Bar Man was a clusterfuck, apart from our injection of Black Sabbath's "Rat Salad", which we've rehearsed to near-perfection. Rat Salad Bar Man. The Salad Bar Man part of the song was a clusterfuck. Um, we played Steve's new anthem okay. Carmel Knowledge. I Can't Believe It's Not Satan... I don't know, I was bored by the second verse but I think the audience was still shoving and bickering among itself. Gloriously.
Pizza Party feels increasingly pointless for some reason. I was tempted to yell my old backing vocal bit but I was frankly lucky just to be keeping time by then. I had enough plates spinning in the proverbial air as it was.
Chicken Nuggets Of Sin was okay. I mean, I don't know if it's musically relevant anymore (or if it ever was), but we kept it spinning pretty well. Fribble went over nicely. Too bad I could only hit the toms at like 40% strength due to them being blocked by fucking microphones. Hands Off My Oreos was okay, nothing to write home about.
Last call was called. We played a couple more. The audience - mostly Gourley's drunk-ass coworkers - went NUTS. I mean truly insane. Someone stole all of our setlists! Everyone was high fiving Gourley and saying they didn't know he had it in him etc etc.
I was frankly embarassed by my shitty ass drumming. I thought I really fucked the pooch the entire time. And yet... that's the biggest 'pit' we've had in, as I say, maybe ever. (Which, how come no one ever danced when I was playing bass? All I ever wanted a small cluster of people to yell at/with!)
Since the set was so short & I'm not drumming at full capacity, I was still somewhat energetic afterwards. Relatively, I mean. Plus Gourley took my drums back too! I didn't have to lift them once. How awesome is that shit.
I want to complain about the set but frankly if people are DANCING, then there's nothing to complain about. It reminded me of the first time we played at High Five way back in the 1800s. Lots of drunk people there too. Not in a bad way, strangely enough.
Assembling the drums was baffling. I took a long time and even once I thought everything was in place, it really wasn't. Good god. The fucking snare drum moved every time I hit it! Ditto for the wimpy fucking crash cymbal stand. It inched away slowly. Hm. I wanted it raw and brutal, didn't I.
The snare and hi-hat were interfering with each other. The snare mic kept falling off the little clippy stand thing. No one noticed. The hi-hat cymbals were just flappy & loose pretty much the whole time. And the tom mics blocked the heads! Shambolic.
Good god. And remember how excited I was about all the new arrangements we've been working on? Feh. Forgotten. Almost entirely. I played my old old old drum parts when I could remember them.
Marshmallow got off to a decent start. I'm getting ahead of myself already though. Gourley has worked at Ravari Room for a couple of years now, I think. All the people who work there (it's a small army) just know him as this nice, quiet, calm dude. So they all went APESHIT when they saw him with devil horns and no shirt on. He was already running through his repetoire of opening lines before we even started playing. WE ARE DEVILCAKE! FROM COLUMBUS OHIO! The audience was very drunk but happily so and very um dancey. I haven't seen such disgraceful moshing and shoving between Devilcake audience members in decades, it was excellent.
Okay, so Marshmallow. I remembered to play it slow as shit. After that... I was lucky to finish a couple of the songs. Ha. Wienermobile, my new nemesis - due to the tempo & the fiddliness - I accidentally took that one at full speed. It was a mistake to play it that fast. Oh well. It kicked my ass but I only missed a couple of beats. Salad Bar Man was a clusterfuck, apart from our injection of Black Sabbath's "Rat Salad", which we've rehearsed to near-perfection. Rat Salad Bar Man. The Salad Bar Man part of the song was a clusterfuck. Um, we played Steve's new anthem okay. Carmel Knowledge. I Can't Believe It's Not Satan... I don't know, I was bored by the second verse but I think the audience was still shoving and bickering among itself. Gloriously.
Pizza Party feels increasingly pointless for some reason. I was tempted to yell my old backing vocal bit but I was frankly lucky just to be keeping time by then. I had enough plates spinning in the proverbial air as it was.
Chicken Nuggets Of Sin was okay. I mean, I don't know if it's musically relevant anymore (or if it ever was), but we kept it spinning pretty well. Fribble went over nicely. Too bad I could only hit the toms at like 40% strength due to them being blocked by fucking microphones. Hands Off My Oreos was okay, nothing to write home about.
Last call was called. We played a couple more. The audience - mostly Gourley's drunk-ass coworkers - went NUTS. I mean truly insane. Someone stole all of our setlists! Everyone was high fiving Gourley and saying they didn't know he had it in him etc etc.
I was frankly embarassed by my shitty ass drumming. I thought I really fucked the pooch the entire time. And yet... that's the biggest 'pit' we've had in, as I say, maybe ever. (Which, how come no one ever danced when I was playing bass? All I ever wanted a small cluster of people to yell at/with!)
Since the set was so short & I'm not drumming at full capacity, I was still somewhat energetic afterwards. Relatively, I mean. Plus Gourley took my drums back too! I didn't have to lift them once. How awesome is that shit.
I want to complain about the set but frankly if people are DANCING, then there's nothing to complain about. It reminded me of the first time we played at High Five way back in the 1800s. Lots of drunk people there too. Not in a bad way, strangely enough.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
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----
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----
Monday, August 15, 2005
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.
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.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
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-
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)
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)
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
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."
Monday, July 11, 2005
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...
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