Grabass Charlestons? Is that the name of a band? That's pretty awesome if it is.
Have fun!
I don't expect anyone to be able to attend, but venue is Loosey's Longshot, f/k/a Market St. Pub, downtown Gainesville, FL.
Hopefully I will get some pics that I can post here over the weekend.
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Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html
Grabass Charlestons? Is that the name of a band? That's pretty awesome if it is.
Have fun!
Guitars: Gibson LP Studio, MIA Fender Precision, Carvin C350Originally Posted by Spudman
Amps: Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 + Avatar B212 / Genzler 12-3, Acoustic B20
Pedals: Pod HD500X, Diamond Compressor, Tech 21 VT Bass, Sonic Research Turbo Tuner
Thanks, yeah, Grabass Charlestons is a band on local semi-legendary punk label No Idea. Their drummer, Will, is also their lead singer. He's been on the local scene for a long time, and the bassist Replay Dave used to be in another band with him before that. Their guitarist, PJ (most often pronounced "Peej"), played bass in Crash Pad for about a year, around the turn of the century.
At least, that's the line-up I know for them. According to something I saw online, Peej and Replay are still in the band, but they got a new singer/guitarist and a new drummer and are a 4-piece since last year. If so that strikes me as odd because I always thought of it as Will's band.
Visit Crash Pad at:
http://www.CrashPadBand.com
http://www.facebook.com/CrashPadBand
Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html
Woot!
Sounds like a load of fun!
I'm strangely very thirsty now.
Have fun!
Visit Crash Pad at:
http://www.CrashPadBand.com
http://www.facebook.com/CrashPadBand
Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html
Hai kids.
Crash Pad's actual exact 15th anniversary date was actually a couple months back, but it slipped what was left of my mind since I was busy going through oxycontin withdrawal that night, haha.
So at any rate, being a Fellow Traveler commie pinko trade unionist pirate radioist (OK I know that very last bit isn't a real word but that has never not only never stopped me but not even slowed me down), when a local low-power community based radio station was having a benefit I jumped on board that shit straightaway. The station is a project connected with the Civic Media Center, which is a local "reading room and library for alternative and non-corporate press, as well as a community activism center" here in town, that Crash Pad has long supported.
So anyhow, voila, now we had a show that was also for a great local benefited project (listening to the station as I type this). To make things even WAAAAAAY more bosstastic, the station also got Grabass Charlestons to play.
Grabass is a way more popular/successful local punk rock band on our local semi-legendary label, No Idea. Their guitarist, P.J. ("Peej"), was a former bassist in Crash Pad about 10 years ago. On top of the Peej connection, their lead singer Will and bassist Replay Dave had been in a predecessor band that Crash Pad played with back in the 90's, so my history with these guys goes WAY back.
So that was a good thing. A very good thing.
Now, for the downside.
Because with benefits, there's ALWAYS a downside. ALWAYS. I LOVE playing benefits for these and other knuckleheads, but there's ALWAYS a downside. It's just a given. Call me jaded, but I determined this a long-*** time ago.
Anyhow, the radio station decided to open the night with comics. This was a first for me. I have no prob with comics, but they included FIVE ****ING COMICS. FIVE, man. Then, to make shit REALLY interesting, they added a THIRD ****ing band! The third band was from Jax (out of town, an hour or so away), so they would pretty much have to open.
Did I mention that the venue doesn't really usually have live full bands? Nope. So there was basically no "house" for me to contact about the sound. Someone, presumably the station, had made some sort of arrangements for a PA. I had heard a batch of people ask online about exactly WHERE in the venue we would play, and concerns about it being cramped. So, Wednesday I went down to the venue to check it, and fortunately the floor area available was in fact slightly in excess of some of the smaller stages we've played. So at least that wouldn't be a problem. Plus, I had a beer and tipped the barkeep nicely so I had a friend for purposes of Friday night.
Showed up Friday night, fortunately the sound guy was a "floater," Jason, I'd played with on several occasions before, so I knew we'd be at least approaching OK on that score. There were no vocal monitors, however, for the drummer. The house had some GREAT hanging speakers that could've been great as backfills, but there was no way to easily integrate them into our PA, so we were pretty ****ed on that score. We jerry-rigged a PA-out to the secondary input on the bass rig, and that was at least an arguably serviceable fix so the drummer could get some real-time (versus back-wall bounce) vocals.
We loaded in, and backlined behind the openers. Their drummer comes up to me and says "Weren't you in Allen Wrench?" Sure enough the guy had been in the GNV back in the 90's, and we had hung out when I was in the band immediately preceding Crash Pad. Small ****ing world, eh? Brian Krashpad's is, anyhow. They were really good in a kinda artsy lotsa effects/Mac onstage kinda way. Which I knew would only make our set sound all the more shambolic/trainwrecky.
The radio station brought some Clash for pre-show music, so once I got everybody else set up (I backlined the whole band for the show) and myself, I was playing along to "Police On My Back" to pre-warm-up, and IMMEDIATELY broke a string on my Ravelle. ****.
So much for my planned #1.
So, I switch to my WildKat and my clip-on tuner decides to go on the fritz. I waste far too long trying to get tuned and just decide, **** it, let's go. Still, I try to fine-tune it during the set and it only gets worse. A few songs in, I finally give up and switch to a third guitar, my Gibson Les Paul Studio Doublecut. Having pre-tuned all the guitars earlier in the day, it's pretty damn close to being in tune. The set goes pretty ****ing good. People are eating up the material, much less my histrionics, which of course start to really kick in and accelerate during the second half of the set. All stops were pulled out. Knee-drops, playing behind head.
The usual.
Fortunately, at some point after we started, someone set a chair within guitar cord-distance, so of course I went and stood on the damn chair to do a solo. Which happened to be right in front of my son (my wife and daughter, and daughter's gf, also attended), so he got some good close-ups of the chair-solo.
Voice held out fine, despite the surgery/chemo/radiation, which was what I was hoping and expecting. In fact someone even came up afterward and said he liked what everything had done to my voice; thank you cancer! Also, we have one song where our rhythm guitarist sings lead, but he'd had strep the preceding week (skipping our last practice), and when we got to it, he made a slash across his throat, so I ended up singing it for the first time in over a year.
But generally it went pretty freaking bosstastic. The crowd ate up my silly histrionics. At one point I realized I'd drunk all my water and beer and said "If my wife or someone could get me a beer..." and within a minute a really "hot librarian" type in a flouncy red dress brought me a gigantic Genessee Cream Ale. During the closers' set (which was every bit as boss as I'd expected it to be), I went to the bar to get her a thank-you beer (as well as getting myself a beer, and a shot for the Grabass singer, Will who was celebrating a birthday) for her, and as luck would have it, she showed up right next to me (I have that kinda magnetic personality, just sayin) to order her next beer, and I said "No need, this is for you." Which is prolly the schmoovest I've ever been.
So anyhow, it was a ****ing blast. I got to flirt (just a bit) with a hot librarian type (during the closers' set, some crazy drunk picked her up and gave me the unexpected present of a very nice full-leg shot; whatever panties she was wearing did not fall in the granny category, I can tell you), and played a stupid loud fun set to an appreciative crowd. Doesn't get much better than that.
In my book. Not at 52 for a white guy with big-*** Frankenstein scar on his neck.
As usual, your comments on my foolishness and poseritude are encouraged. Now the flood of stupidity shall begin! Here's a few, thanks to Jack my 14-year-old for taking these! More to follow!
More photos a-comin'!
Visit Crash Pad at:
http://www.CrashPadBand.com
http://www.facebook.com/CrashPadBand
Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html
Visit Crash Pad at:
http://www.CrashPadBand.com
http://www.facebook.com/CrashPadBand
Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html
A schmoove and bosstastic tale !
Krash is back
Good pics too
But tell your son that next time he's gotta' get the librarian's pic too
Visit Crash Pad at:
http://www.CrashPadBand.com
http://www.facebook.com/CrashPadBand
Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html
Standing on chair pics:
Librarian grrl at far right. Pic does not do her justice.
Visit Crash Pad at:
http://www.CrashPadBand.com
http://www.facebook.com/CrashPadBand
Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html
Funny -- there's a Genesee Cream Ale can on my desk as I type this.
Looks like it worked out in spite of your troubles. One question though: playing a Les Paul behind your head? I can't imagine doing that without ending up with some sort of neck injury. I'm glad it went well for you.
Guitars: Gibson LP Studio, MIA Fender Precision, Carvin C350Originally Posted by Spudman
Amps: Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 + Avatar B212 / Genzler 12-3, Acoustic B20
Pedals: Pod HD500X, Diamond Compressor, Tech 21 VT Bass, Sonic Research Turbo Tuner
Visit Crash Pad at:
http://www.CrashPadBand.com
http://www.facebook.com/CrashPadBand
Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html
In that one picture where you are looking at the ceiling, or at least ripping with your head tilted back, you look almost like Tom Waits. Maybe it was close to closin' time. You definitely look like you were at the only place in the World you should have been at that point in time.
Duffy Bolduc
South Williamsport, Pa.
"Now all the things that use to mean so much to me has got me old before my time." G. Allman, "Old Before My Time", Hittin' the Note.
Major changes to guitars and amps, to be updated soon.
Fiance - Supportive of musical art
Visit Crash Pad at:
http://www.CrashPadBand.com
http://www.facebook.com/CrashPadBand
Gear List/Pics:
http://krashpad.fortunecity.com/brian.html
Read a review:
http://www.ink19.com/issues/july2002.../crashPad.html