Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Hickoids, White Horse, 3/13/2018

A show review....well, why not? I want to begin writing something every day in this blog, and this seems a good way to kick it off. Plus, I made a pact with someone last night that I would write at least a page every day. This might not equate to a page, but hey, it'll be a good start. And it's not a movie review.

So, the Hickoids first performance of SXSW last night was at the White Horse, a venue we play a few times a year. They have a mostly solid drum set for everybody to use, but over the years, pieces are beginning to be missing. As I always have to park at least a few blocks away, I decided to pack a suitcase with a couple of stands, drum throne, pedal, etc. and wheel that, along with my cymbal bag/snare drum combo behind me. It worked great. Might have to use that on Saturday, too, we'll see...

The bill was packed with heavy hitters from the start, kicking off with Eightball Aitken about 8:00. He was followed by the Differentials ("driving" as always [ha!]), Corinne Rose (Maria is such an inspiration), Texacala's new band (with Nathan Calhoun, Chelsea Taylor, and Frank Garymartin - solid as ever), Pure Luck (pure joy, more like), and us closing out the night. We finally started around 12:55, according to the clock by the side of the stage.

Cody had set up stage left for Pure Luck and stayed there. Rice set up next to him in his usual spot, putting Tom stage right. I don't know if it was that arrangement or what, but everything sounded sort of "off" to me all night. I still had a good time, played fairly well, but something just sounded weird on the stage - no fault of the sound man, I'm sure.

Here's a little evidence.

The set was a little cornfused as to what we normally play, for sure. One thing that's really starting to bother me is the big pauses between songs when Smitty tunes his guitar. Before he played guitar, he could keep the banter going and everything ran a little smoother, I think. I know Rice and I try to chatter a bit, and if Tom grabs the mic, he'll mutter incomprehensible offerings to the audience. But it really should be Smitty primarily, and he can't really do that and tune at the same time. Gotta work on that.

We did play "Corntaminated" (evidence above link). Smitty also fooled us into thinking we were about to play "Pennsylvania Mexican" but bailed out of it after his usual intro rap. His voice was a bit ragged, maybe he decided against it?

Still, I had fun. Looking forward to the Pocket FishRmen SX 18 debut tonight at the Lost Well. And more writing tomorrow!!

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