Been two years gone...

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

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

Anyhoo...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Later. Rock on!

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