Thursday 26 July 2001
High Five
DEVILCAKE | MRS CHILDREN | STAINLESS MIND | SALVAGE | AOG
lineup: Mike Gourley, Mike Chuck Bill, Ian Stewart, Todd Skaggs, Darrin Ailes
What a week for rock 'n roll! First Mike Chuck Bill and I drove down to King Crimson to see Bogart's on Monday! Holy shiot!
Then there was our gig on Thursday.
Not forgetting Cradle Of Filth at the Newport on that Friday! What a week for rock 'n roll.
Getting back to our gig on that Thursday...
We swarmed High Five pretty early, somewhere between 8:30 and 9pm. The doors weren't even open yet! And then when the drunk dude who worked there said it was okay for us to load in, we loaded in! Pretty amazing actually.
It was hotter than ass all night in there. We need try to get a group rate on those personal air-conditioning things they sell on cable. That would be sweet.
We got our shit set up fairly quickly, all things considered. And then we kinda lingered and waited for the soundman to show up and turn on some fuckin' lights! That stage is like a dark cave unless you've got some lights on it.
In the meantime we greeted our peeps, who were surprisingly numerous! What up peeps! Oh really, that's amazing, I gotta go do a soundcheck now.
The soundman just kinda set mics up and didn't chit-chat or anything. Which is actually fine. I think I'd rather have a soundman who's clearly indifferent from the beginning than, like, when they ask a bunch of questions while we're setting up as though anything we say is actually going to count for anything later when they do the actual mix during our set. At least this particular night we knew we weren't going to get shit through the monitors. And that's fine. It's just good to know beforehand.
We soundchecked with "Guacamole Damn It" but since everyone was already there and paying attention to us, we just went into the set from there.
In typical High Five fashion, we found out there were going to be a total of FIVE BANDS playing this particular Thursday night. But it didn't matter to us a bit because we were already set up, and we were already planning on playing a 35-minute set. So that's what we did.
Todd got all ghouly on the analog keyz-o-heaven for about a minute before Darrin gave the Final Four count on the cracked China cymbal. That's when we unleashed the first of 4 brand-spanking-fresh tracks on the hoes, "Wienermobile."
We had 2 smoke machines - I got one for my birthday, by the way, thanks to me - and they still weren't enough! We also had 2 strobe lights, which I masterfully (HA!) controlled by switching a powerstrip on and off with my foot. Unfortunately there was no good place to put the Laser Widow, which is the newest member of Devilcake. And though it only weighs around 12 ounces, it works the hardest of us all. Projecting a rotating red penagram inside of which we can all rock. I love you, Laser Widow.
Anyway um. So we rammed "Wienermobile" straight into "Marshmallow" with no stopping, just like we do sometimes. It felt MIGHTY FINE to play. The mix of "Wienermobile," which can safely be called Devilcake's Answer To 'I Can't Drive 55,' basically careens around every curve. Barely controlled fury. And then it rams into a wall at the end... and that's when fuckin' "Marshmallow" comes slamming down on dat azz like a ton of fuckin' marshmallows. It's like getting kicked dead in the mooth by the fuckin' Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Just like it (kinda) says in the song.
So yeah. It was definitely happenin' from the stage. We were havin' it, and people were clapping and cheering at totally inappropriate moments throughout our set. The more we threw at 'em, the more they dug it.
A lot of this can be attributed to the fact that Devilcake has always been popular among other bands. For some reason other musicians seem to dig our little bullshit maybe a little more than the Average Joe. Not to say the Average Joe doesn't enjoy a bit of Devilcake because he does. But the other musicians in the house always ALWAYS tend to give it up a little more for us.
Same was true at High Five. Whatever it was, there was love in the air. And we gave it back to them.
Todd's analog keys-o-cottage cheese cut through the mix like a swarm of bees. And Darrin's drumming was unusuallly lucid - I could hear everything he was doing, and that doesn't usually happen. But I couldn't hear (let alone FEEL) Chuck Bill's guitar. And my bass sound was fucking pathetic! Let this be a lesson to everyone: if you have a Peavey amp, use it in rehearsal ONLY! Never take it onstage because IT WILL FUCK YOU IN THE EYE EVERY TIME. I couldn't believe how middling and petty and weak and totally un-amazing the bass sound was. It's mostly my fault because I only concern myself with knobs that make the amp LOUDER, not the ones that control how shitty it sounds. I guess I'll have to do my homework before we go back!
But the Anniversary Bass (Yamaha fretless deal given to me by my wife on our second wedding anniversary - cheers mang) made a stunning debut. The only thing keeping that bass from propelling us all to greatness this particular evening was the pathological oversight of the dickhead playing it!
Which is to say that we're trying to get a little arty with it in our old age. We tune down to chuggy drop-D for "Hands Off" and "Chik Nugs." Which is fine.
Except that my dumb ass always forgets to tune back up before launching into "PIzza Party" with Darrin! Fuckin' DUH! It sounded like Todd, Mike Chuck Bill and I were all playing in some secret middle-eastern harmony that no one is supposed to know about.
No big deal really in the scheme of things. In fact I doubt anyone in the audience noticed.
They did, however, notice "Cereal And Beer"! Jesus, when Gourley introduce that mofo the place went nuts! What the hell?!?! At that point we were just kind of confused because, y'know, maybe they think we're talking about a different "Cereal And Beer."
Whatever. It worked. We had fun. They clapped and had fun. And if we didn't have so much gear to pack up after the set, Gourley and I both were going to roll around on the stage - separately, I must stress - and get all GG Allin with it at the end of "Fribble." But we both pussed out and just played the song normally.
What was funny OH HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA was people in the crowd yelling out song titles of songs we don't play anymore. I kinda felt bad. Almost like an explanation was in order. But it wasn't.
And I just want to say for the record that if anyone else ever says "Cibo Matto" in any context while I'm on stage and I hear them, I will personally stop what I'm doing and end their conversation!
For the 10,000th time, Devilcake was started in 1991. We were doing the food thing long before Cibo Matto even thought about being a BAND, let alone having a few songs about food. Fuck that shit. I will kill. I will kill. I will kill and feast upon the remains. And then I'll run back up onstage and finish "Fribble," bitch! I don't give a fuck!
Plus: we sold out of Devilcake t-shirts! Hot shiot! Which is good because now we can have some ghouly ones made!
WE PLAYED:
Wienermobile
Marshmallow
Sacrificial Leg Of Lamb
Hands Off My Oreos
Chicken Nuggets Of Sin
Pizza Party
Cereal And Beer
Deez Nuts
Salad Bar Man
Fribble
Friday, August 03, 2001
Sunday, May 20, 2001
Saturday 19 May 2001
Ruby Tuesday
KAZOWIE | DEVILCAKE
lineup: Mike Gourley, Ray Lilly, Mike Chuck Bill, Ian "stop calling me Beef" Stewart, Todd Skaggs, Darrin Ailes
I got the call at 8:45 Saturday morning. Kazowie's opening band cancelled, do we want to play in their place?
A hectic round of phonecalls later it was determined that, hell yes, Devilcake would gladly rock the ass off Ruby Tuesday. Sure.
Devilcake played at Ruby Tuesday in 1991. That's the only other time we were there. We were opening for Christian. Diego's main gig was with Christian but he played bass with Devilcake too. That was one of our first non-Apollo's gigs in the early days. And it was abysmal. The soundman hated us before we even played a note. That's when Todd was still doing the DJ thing, plus we had 3 or 4 guitar players and two or three bass players. We played through Christian's gear, which didn't help us much. Their equipment was fine, it just wasn't what we were used to. The drumset was this vast thing that sounded totally different to my set. I recall playing to about three people (if even) and being very depressed afterwards. Plus I forgot my snazzy jacket with the "I LOVE DICK" pin on it. And my favorite sunglasses were in the pocket too.
But that was nearly ten years ago. What wonders would Ruby Tuesday hold for Devilcake in 2001? If any?
We were the fuckin' early-birds when we got there at 9:15pm, of course. There were literally 3 people in the bar. We loaded our crap pretty quickly considering our proximity to OSU's Riot Alley. We weren't nervous exactly, Devilcake being a band of burly guys, but we weren't eager to test the drunken vandalistic tendencies of the nearby cooker-outers who were already on their porches with their grills cranked up to 11.
It was my first gig as a guitar player in oh, about six hundred years, and I enjoyed immensely both of the minutes it took me to set my shit up. Darrin pieced his drumkit together methodically while Todd struggled with technical difficulties with the MIDI and the Keyz O Death all night.
Due to the last-minute nature of the show, costumes were not procured. We decided to do Devilcake Unmasked. Except for me, I wore the same thing I always wear at Devilcake shows. Only this time people could actually see what it was because I wasn't trapped behind the damn drums!
We did a quick soundcheck on "Guacamole Damn It" that caused about 10 audience members to appear from nowhere. It felt extremely good to play "Guacamole Damn It," for reasons not easily quantifiable here. My amp was deliciously devilishly loud and the guitar was good 'n in tune. So it sounded nice to me. And it felt goooooooood. We tore the ass off that song.
The flu I've been battling for the past week (since the Record Convention last Saturday! No thanks to collectors of moldy albums!) barely even acknowledged the Dayquil I took. Which is to say that I played our entire set with a snout full of snizzot. I thought about doing a farmer's blow but I didn't want to end up wearing it. I knew there'd be a lot.
So anyway. I think we actually played a set in there too.
We did the soundcheck and then sat at the tables nearest to the stage, talking about music and the internet and music and telling jokes and whatever else.
The Devilcake Multimedia Crew (ie Robert) powered up the audio/visual capture devices (ie my camcorder) and Devilcake took the stage.
They kinda like to leave all the lights on at Ruby Tuesday's, which I don't really go for. I think rock 'n roll should be dark and misted with synthetic smoke from a fog machine. It's hard to get your rock on with that many damn lights blaring away. But we did get our rock on.
The Keyz O Death were launched for the old-school Devilcake intro, which goes "boop-a-doop-a-doop, a-boop-boop, do-dee boop-a-doop-a-doop." Apparently it's a Herbie Hancock song called "Chameleon." Alls I knows is that I when I hears that track I goes into a trance. And the only thing that brings me out of the trance is Gourley yelling "BOOBIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!!!!"
Did I mention that there's no ventilation in Ruby Tuesday's? I was sweating like an ass before we even played a note. I swear to Ace that with the strobe light behind me and sweat flying off my head, it looked like glitter! And the glitter that came off my old prism shirt looked like sweat! It was amazing!
I think I played the solo to "Pie Hair Pie" with the guitar behind my head. I've never had much use for cliched rock antics onstage, but at the same time, if you're going to play a highly uninventive guitar solo in the middle of a song that employs a mere four chords, then why not do something that's just so dumb that it has a shot at being funny?
Doing backing vocals destroyed my already flu-ravaged throat. But it was worth it. Totally.
I got to sweat and jump and play my guitar over my head. It was fucking brilliant.
Darrin did a great job on the drums. We did have a few trainwrecks but they were mostly my fault, from being in the wrong place at the wrong time or from just not paying attention to the songs. Todd's technicial difficulties with the Keyz O didn't stop him from beatboxing and doing backing vocals and generally keeping the show moving. Mike Chuck Bill is confident in his role as the Kim Thayil of Devilcake. Ha. Ray was over on bass, holding down the low end like a Columbus version of the guy in Social Distortion or some shit.
And Gourley... shit. The less audiences get into us, the more he gets into them. It's amazing. He rocked every bit as much in regular clothes. Devilcake is not just fancy clothes and an expensive light show and goth chicks dancing in cages! Oh no, there's so much more to it.
I'll have to come back with the set list. I didn't bring one home. Doh!
I know we played
Pie, Hair Pie
I Want A Big Mac
Salad Bar Man
Marshmallow
Soft Batch Mama
Deez Nuts
Stromboli Fever
Chicken Nuggets Of Sin
Guacamole Damn It
Fribble
I'm not positive of the exact order - but it's not like anyone is exactly in a position to dispute any of it. So there!
Ruby Tuesday
KAZOWIE | DEVILCAKE
lineup: Mike Gourley, Ray Lilly, Mike Chuck Bill, Ian "stop calling me Beef" Stewart, Todd Skaggs, Darrin Ailes
I got the call at 8:45 Saturday morning. Kazowie's opening band cancelled, do we want to play in their place?
A hectic round of phonecalls later it was determined that, hell yes, Devilcake would gladly rock the ass off Ruby Tuesday. Sure.
Devilcake played at Ruby Tuesday in 1991. That's the only other time we were there. We were opening for Christian. Diego's main gig was with Christian but he played bass with Devilcake too. That was one of our first non-Apollo's gigs in the early days. And it was abysmal. The soundman hated us before we even played a note. That's when Todd was still doing the DJ thing, plus we had 3 or 4 guitar players and two or three bass players. We played through Christian's gear, which didn't help us much. Their equipment was fine, it just wasn't what we were used to. The drumset was this vast thing that sounded totally different to my set. I recall playing to about three people (if even) and being very depressed afterwards. Plus I forgot my snazzy jacket with the "I LOVE DICK" pin on it. And my favorite sunglasses were in the pocket too.
But that was nearly ten years ago. What wonders would Ruby Tuesday hold for Devilcake in 2001? If any?
We were the fuckin' early-birds when we got there at 9:15pm, of course. There were literally 3 people in the bar. We loaded our crap pretty quickly considering our proximity to OSU's Riot Alley. We weren't nervous exactly, Devilcake being a band of burly guys, but we weren't eager to test the drunken vandalistic tendencies of the nearby cooker-outers who were already on their porches with their grills cranked up to 11.
It was my first gig as a guitar player in oh, about six hundred years, and I enjoyed immensely both of the minutes it took me to set my shit up. Darrin pieced his drumkit together methodically while Todd struggled with technical difficulties with the MIDI and the Keyz O Death all night.
Due to the last-minute nature of the show, costumes were not procured. We decided to do Devilcake Unmasked. Except for me, I wore the same thing I always wear at Devilcake shows. Only this time people could actually see what it was because I wasn't trapped behind the damn drums!
We did a quick soundcheck on "Guacamole Damn It" that caused about 10 audience members to appear from nowhere. It felt extremely good to play "Guacamole Damn It," for reasons not easily quantifiable here. My amp was deliciously devilishly loud and the guitar was good 'n in tune. So it sounded nice to me. And it felt goooooooood. We tore the ass off that song.
The flu I've been battling for the past week (since the Record Convention last Saturday! No thanks to collectors of moldy albums!) barely even acknowledged the Dayquil I took. Which is to say that I played our entire set with a snout full of snizzot. I thought about doing a farmer's blow but I didn't want to end up wearing it. I knew there'd be a lot.
So anyway. I think we actually played a set in there too.
We did the soundcheck and then sat at the tables nearest to the stage, talking about music and the internet and music and telling jokes and whatever else.
The Devilcake Multimedia Crew (ie Robert) powered up the audio/visual capture devices (ie my camcorder) and Devilcake took the stage.
They kinda like to leave all the lights on at Ruby Tuesday's, which I don't really go for. I think rock 'n roll should be dark and misted with synthetic smoke from a fog machine. It's hard to get your rock on with that many damn lights blaring away. But we did get our rock on.
The Keyz O Death were launched for the old-school Devilcake intro, which goes "boop-a-doop-a-doop, a-boop-boop, do-dee boop-a-doop-a-doop." Apparently it's a Herbie Hancock song called "Chameleon." Alls I knows is that I when I hears that track I goes into a trance. And the only thing that brings me out of the trance is Gourley yelling "BOOBIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!!!!"
Did I mention that there's no ventilation in Ruby Tuesday's? I was sweating like an ass before we even played a note. I swear to Ace that with the strobe light behind me and sweat flying off my head, it looked like glitter! And the glitter that came off my old prism shirt looked like sweat! It was amazing!
I think I played the solo to "Pie Hair Pie" with the guitar behind my head. I've never had much use for cliched rock antics onstage, but at the same time, if you're going to play a highly uninventive guitar solo in the middle of a song that employs a mere four chords, then why not do something that's just so dumb that it has a shot at being funny?
Doing backing vocals destroyed my already flu-ravaged throat. But it was worth it. Totally.
I got to sweat and jump and play my guitar over my head. It was fucking brilliant.
Darrin did a great job on the drums. We did have a few trainwrecks but they were mostly my fault, from being in the wrong place at the wrong time or from just not paying attention to the songs. Todd's technicial difficulties with the Keyz O didn't stop him from beatboxing and doing backing vocals and generally keeping the show moving. Mike Chuck Bill is confident in his role as the Kim Thayil of Devilcake. Ha. Ray was over on bass, holding down the low end like a Columbus version of the guy in Social Distortion or some shit.
And Gourley... shit. The less audiences get into us, the more he gets into them. It's amazing. He rocked every bit as much in regular clothes. Devilcake is not just fancy clothes and an expensive light show and goth chicks dancing in cages! Oh no, there's so much more to it.
I'll have to come back with the set list. I didn't bring one home. Doh!
I know we played
Pie, Hair Pie
I Want A Big Mac
Salad Bar Man
Marshmallow
Soft Batch Mama
Deez Nuts
Stromboli Fever
Chicken Nuggets Of Sin
Guacamole Damn It
Fribble
I'm not positive of the exact order - but it's not like anyone is exactly in a position to dispute any of it. So there!
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