Gig report w/usual tons o'crappy pics!

[Brian Krashpad]

So last night Crash Pad played a very fun show at my favorite venue in town. It's small, with only 4 or 5 employees/owners all together. Last night, of the 3 people working the place, I knew 2 of them for over 10 years, and the other for at least 5 or 6. The soundguy there is an ex-bandmate of mine from back in the mid-'90's (band preceding Crash Pad), the guy running door and the gal tending bar are in a band that's gigged with Crash Pad many times. So gigging at the venue is like playing at a friend's house.

Being the middle of summer in a college town on a Wednesday night, the crowd was somewhat sparse, though actually better than I expected given the conditions. My daughter Hannah, who's almost 16, came with. She really likes Celt-punk like the Pogues and Flogging Molly (as do I, which is how she found the music in the first place), and the touring band on the bill, Swaggerin Growlers (from Boston) play that sort of music.

First up was our bass player Ronnie's band, Audrey Rose. They play this indie-metal-synth mishmash with vocals ranging from Cookie Monster to a shriek that's probably supposed to be very goth/metal or something (probably tongue-in-cheek, as they have a good sense of humor), but just sounds like a very frightened 9-year-old girl. Which of course ends up being even more funny. Not my cuppa but very amusing and certainly entertaining nevertheless. Here's them, Ronnie plays guitar with them, and is playing the black SG (sorry about the grainy photos, couldn't find a digital camera beforehand and had to revert to plan B, the infamous disposable camera):







Much more to come-- don't say I didn't warn y'all.

:

[Brian Krashpad]

Here's the Swaggerin' Growlers, really great band:

[Brian Krashpad]

These guys (and gal) were really nice, signed a gig flyer for my son who couldn't come to the show. The li'l girl is about the size of a leprechaun, plays penny whistle, fiddle, and iirc accordian. And sings like an angel. They start the set with her singing in traditional Irish a cappella style.

[Brian Krashpad]

Our set went pretty well, with the exception that our drummer had trouble hearing the vocals and my guitar in his monitor and as a result cut several songs short. We all more or less caught the gaffes, but it was still a bit of a pain.

The guitar cabs were mic'd, but I'd thought I'd taken the extra precaution of angling my cab towards the drummer. However, the pics show different, it's possible that the angle of the amp was changed (it's on casters) by someone moving it to get around it or something. Lesson learned-- at that place make sure guitar cab is positioned correctly so drummer can hear.

Other than those drum miscues the set went fine.

[Brian Krashpad]

[Brian Krashpad]

[Brian Krashpad]

[Brian Krashpad]

[bigoldron]

Looks like a good time was had by all...

[mrmudcat]

yep

[Brian Krashpad]

Looks like a good time was had by all...

It was great fun, had a blast. In addition to my daughter, a friend of mine made it out to the show, she'd seen my side band before (in fact, we played at a party at her house) but not Crash Pad. Also, my praise band director from church came, it was pretty funny seeing him drinking his iced tea in a bar full of ne'er do wells (my daughter excluded, of course). He saw our show in April so at least he was prepared for the occasional lyrical f-bomb being dropped.

We have one song where the recorded version uses "hell," but the live version usually is an f-bomb (wtf instead of wth), and I remember last night saying between songs I needed to clean up my act since my daughter was there.

I hear from the audience "I go to Eastside-- I hear that every day!"

[M29]

How were them single coils doin for ya? Looks like a great time!!

M

[Brian Krashpad]

How were them single coils doin for ya? Looks like a great time!!

M

The P-90's sounded great. I am a BIG fan of P-90's and have them on several other guitars. As a result of a long hiatus, that was actually the first time I've gigged that particular guitar, however. I had a little concern about feedback with it being semi-hollow, but the WildKat is not constructed like a 335 or a Gretsch, and instead is more like a chambered LP with f-holes. I hadn't had any such problems in band practice, but I don't stand in front of my amp in practices, either. Turned out no feedback probs at all.

In reserve onstage I had my Gretsch 'Lectromatic 5255 "Special Jet," but I didn't end up playing it. I brought my black T-60 as well, for my "just in case" backup, in case I managed to go through 2 of them, or my other guitarist needed a backup. I left the T-60 cased just offstage though, as that's a tiny stage and there's no room for multiple backup guitars onstage.

In the third pic of the first band, you can see my guitars along the wall. Two went onstage and the T-60 stayed there. Close enough to get to in a pinch but not taking up stage space.

[birv2]

Looks like a lot of fun. And the lo-fi graininess of the pics give it a kind of garage feel....

The big question, of course, is... how was the mojo factor with those new duds???

What was the setlist, too?

Bob

[Brian Krashpad]

Looks like a lot of fun. And the lo-fi graininess of the pics give it a kind of garage feel....

Haha, yeah, somebody on another forum, back before I had a digital camera and ALL my pics looked like this, once said "Krashpad's pics look like they were all taken in the '70's or something."

The big question, of course, is... how was the mojo factor with those new duds???

I have to admit I was pretty much firing on all cylinders last night. Other than switching around a couple verses' lyrics (something I've been known to do before), I had a great set. The bass player has just turned into a monster showman and bassist over the last year as well, I gave him a bass solo in the closer and it SMOKED. The other guitarist is coming along also, he sings one song in our set, and we've really gotten on him about mic fright, but last night he sang out and it sounded good.

What was the setlist, too?

Bob

Well, fwiw, here's the set, only 7 songs:

Cops & Punks
Yesterday's Predictions
Nigel Book Us, Dammit
Irish Eyes
Stevo (not about the Jackass jackass)
Labor Day
Buffy's Dead

Since they're all originals (w/the possible exception of "Irish Eyes" which is pretty much a total punk reworking of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling") I dunno if that'll be any help to you, unless you've heard some of them on our myspace.

:

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice, looks fun! I would have enjoyed seeing you, and the Growlers look very fun. I love Irish/celt/rock oriented stuff.