OK, so the fish-sticks joke isn’t funny written. Funny as a mother fucker said though! Ask the next gentleman you see if he likes fish-sticks, please.
We just got back from one heck of a weekend swing! We started it off with a bang in Charlotte at the Visulite last Thursday. If you’ve read the other posts you’d know we were reuniting with our cohorts, The Whigs. A band I have talked to online before, never in person until that night, also played, The Hymns. Two of the guys grew up in Harrisburg, they have since moved to NYC, but remain cool like they were from around here still. They played a great set and we look forward to meeting up with them again soon.
All of my pedals have been cursed lately (make that pedals, cords, and automobiles). I freaking hate all of those pedals anyway. I mean, the cool guitar players who have the awesome sounds generally have multiple pedals and setups. They just frustrate me, always breaking it seems, and then there goes the fun straight out the window. Take the fun out of this and what’s left? It sure as hell isn’t money! So, I ditched the pedals, ditched the heavy amp, and went with the old Fender Jr. Pro. Guitar to tuner to amp, nothing else; how can you screw that up?
(Plug the amp where the guitar should go and guitar where amp should be).
OK, so we take the stage in my somewhat naked state and it feels good, like rock should man. I like being exposed with no distortion or reverb to bail me out. Yeah, I probably scuffed a note or two, big damn deal. Sometimes you get so pinned up in the business side of things you forget how to forget, and just go with the flow. I had a good friend remind me.
The Whigs were up next and they keep getting better. Parker has learned how to channel the crowd, Tim owns his side of the stage, and Julian is the wizard behind it all. Bobby Freedom jumped up to dual the solo in “Half the World Away” with Tim Dr. Dog style; what a fun Thursday night it was!
Friday the Whigs made the long trek to Nashville to play with fellow buds Wax Fang; and Charlotte to Nashville is in fact quite a trek. The Sammies went up 85 a piece to Elon. We have never played Elon so we were intrigued to be playing somewhere new. The guys at 89.3 (The Bacon) were super nice and we told stories and I played an acoustic version of “Trainwreck.” We went to The Lighthouse and found out we were playing with I Was Totally Destroying It, a band I had wanted to see for some time. They were awesome and owned it! Favorite new local band for sure. We’ll be back at The Lighthouse 4/24.
Saturday, we packed up the ride, this time with birthday friend Big Chris. I guess he was our merch guy, but he got a wee bit drunk (it was his birthday) and ended up being the good time Charlie instead. I think the whole band was drunk honestly, except for Freedom. We played first, so getting ripped and watching The Whigs was on the docket for some time.
When we came out about 10:00pm the 40 Watt was already slammed. Tickets had been sold out all day. Balls out, we went up there and rocked. No fish-sticks for the Sammies that night for sure. We always get a great response from the Athens crowd, and we love playing there, thanks to all! After we played we got to hang out. Did I mention we got drunk?
Phone tag:Parker getting his gill onAnyway, it was so awesome, I ran into old Athens friends, former Whig, Hanktronics (later in the night, after emerging from backstage, Hank played bass on “Can you Hear me Coming” for you old schooler's), Josh Rifkind, Beretta, Modern Telescopes, I mean everyone.
It was a busy, encompassing night, and we finally got back to The Whigs house at 4am. We ended the night watching this old program that seemed like a radio show but videotaped. I recall Roger Moore playing a big role; and my favorite line of the night was, “We’re highly informal and the higher we get the more informal we are.”
We’re blessed to have such good friends!
