Thanks to everyone who came out. We had a great time and hopefully you did too.
Fatigue- the order of the day
Work, childcare, and heavy equipment is a recipe for exhaustion and, for me, the idea of quietly siting in a corner with my Herman Melville novel and maybe take a nap sounded like nirvana. Perhaps I wasn’t feeling very social because of this. Normally, I jump at the chance to help the other band haul their equipment up the stairs but this time I just didn’t have the energy. Luckily Steve talked me into having a Rudzburger and that got me back on my feet.
American Vodka
Scott Telles and Justin Banks are old friends from ST37 and Winslow so when we heard they wanted to play a show with us we were pretty psyched. For such a short sound-check and exhaustive amount of gear [the guitarist alone had to have over 15 pedals at his disposal], they sounded amazing! Kudos Joel O.! The drummer had the most basic drum kit (snare, kick, high hat, maybe one cymbal) but it sounded gorgeous. But enough about sound, the performance was stellar and while you can hear samples on http://www.myspace.com/americanvodka , the performance leaves the myspace recordings in the dust. Seriously, see them live for the full effect.
Our performance
We played material not on the set list (based on repeated calls from the audience), played longer than the amount of 16mm films we brought, and pulled off a song we only finished arranging 2 days before perfectly. I really can’t complain. I was even told that we didn’t play so loud that we sounded like crap ( a common linus problem). Personally, if people hate the music because they think our songs suck, that’s ok by me. On the other hand, if we play like shit and the songs don’t have a chance, then I take issue with our performance. Beyond that it’s all up to the audience to decide.
Melville, Brad Pitt, and the geek experiment
I know what you are thinking, Melville is so rock and roll! American Renaissance literature – boo-yaa! Actually there is one thing that we can never hide and that is that the LP4 are, at heart, geeks. Funny enough, I was being mocked (hilariously so) about my book as I sat in the merch table. Then Scott Telles came and commented that it was funny I was reading Melville as their song “Nantucket” was about Whaling Vessels. Is it any wonder why neither band has groupies? Let’s face it, playing rock and roll has never gotten anyone I know laid. But then again if Brad Pitt were to go on about Jandek, Philip K. Dick and Spinoza in one breath, I’m sure he’d be in the same spot we are in. Hell, let’s test this hypothesis. Brad, you now have an open invitation to join the LP4. I suspect that the second he joins the band, Mr. Pitt will be as unappealing as Steve Urkel.
Either that, or we’ll all become that much more attractive to the ladies by association…
C
No way! You don’t understand the power of the Dork Side!
Ramon;
Thoroughly enjoyed your show; got there too late for American Vodka, tho.
Could you post a setlist?
You guys ever record your shows? Would love a copy/
Phil from KPFT
PS- I thought your sound was just right.
OK Ramon, your experiment is on. My theory is that a man with $200m and six pack abs will always be attractive to women, even if he is caught reading Newt Gingrich’s autobiography at a rally for feminist vegetarians.
Not to go on about Brad Pitt, but I heard that he doesn’t bathe very often. Are we sure we want this guy in our practice space? Man I hope he isn’t another f*cking guitar player…just what this band needs.
Phil,
Larry is the setlist king. But I don’t know what we did with it.
As for recording. We usually ask Joel to record it but we dropped the ball and didn’t ask him to record this show. But I do have an American Vodka CD for your show which I need to mail to you some time..