OK so here we are in Texas. SXSW again and AGAIN how cool is
it to be here! Always a blast!! This time even the weather's nice. .No rain!! Yeah!!!
Against all advice from our management company and against all reason in general, we have arrived back in this wonderful town...
We have just played some AWESOME shows in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle and Portland ROCK!!!) and SF in the last week thanks in no small part or effort to our dedicated agent who made it all happen, Miss Mamma Casserole from Mamma's Booking in Seattle, Washington!
Mamma also lined up the free Day parties we played in Austin at SXSW.
Beyond the Call, Babe.
If you are ever at the Comet Tavern in Seattle, stop in and say hello!
Thanks, Mamma!
But alas.. suddenly.. before our SXSW warmup show in LA. (a cool show at Safari Sam's with John Wicks and The Records of " Starry Eyes" fame) the night before we left, Cyril had become sick ..He was hurtin'!! He claims that he was having out of body experiences and wasn't sure he could stand up on stage.. much less play! .But finally just before stage time, being the trooper he is, he decided the show must go and that he would just have to hold on for dear life as Paul, Clem,and Eddie watched him turn green..
We all thought there was no hope.. that he was actually going to die on stage from this severe bout of food poisoning he got from his Chili Cheese consumption at a Carl's Jr. the night before but regardless of this huge handicap the show was great and Cyril played as outstanding as usual and nobody in the crowd was ever aware of his condition.
He only got sick after the show in the parking lot for those keeping score.. That show was a close call ..let me tell you. That show almost didn't happen and now SXSW was in jeopordy too...But again, luckily, Cyril after remaining in LA laying low and recuperating for a couple of days, flew out and met the rest of the boys. Clem had arrived, Paul had arrived and Eddie had arrived!
The first day at SXSW, after playing a cool' in store' at Cheapo Records at 2.00pm and a REAL AWESOME show at the wonderful Gingerbread Man at 5:00pm we arrived at BD Riley's Showcase at 1.00 ..........!:00am in the morning that is! And it felt
great!! The audience ROCKED! Already high from 'Muck and the Mires', and ready fo anything and everything! And we gave it to them! They did not leave disappointed! Probably our favorite show EVER!!! It was so Cool!! Thanks to all who were there...We LOVE you!!
The next day our first venue was the Dog and Duck tent........OK apart from the fact that the band before us------The Slits------did a complete no show and we were
late to start due to the usual Rock N' Roll drama..... See Paul and Eddie for more info on that one........, we had no idea what we had in store for us.
BUT as always we were prepared for anything!. AND thank god we
were!. If anything could go wrong it pretty much did go wrong!
At one point (and there is a picture of it somewhere) Clem
jumped off his drum seat and leapt directly over Paul's head while Cyril sat in a chair had a smoke and laughed at all the chaos around him...........Clem's
bass drum pedal had completely broken.........and within seconds he had us all off stage. Calm, cool and collected we waited, the audience seemingly digging the delay as much as the show, until a replacement was found and the show went on........that is until Paul broke his mike stand in two from his frustration at a stagehand!
BUT, despite everything, our energy survived and even got stronger and the audience felt it too!
Amongst them was Steve Homer of Live Nation UK and he was so impressed that we find ourselves on the road to the UK for the O2 Festival 2008 in Hyde Park, London. No less opening on the Main Stage on the last day (Sunday, July 6th) for the Counting Crows, Ben Harper, Goo Goo Dolls and Eddie
Grant.
To go to London for just one show you ask? YES this is what we do! Absolutely! And THIS is why we love rock'n'roll! Actually fate would have it that not only were Blondie (in the middle of their Parallel Lines 2008 World Tour) near London that day but our show time allowed Clem to play the festival with us then be limo-ed to his Blondie show a hundred miles away in time for their set.
And because of this a great big thanks to Blondie from us all!
Okay back to Texas and the last day of the SXSW Festival.
After playing at the Spider House (our 5th show so far) we went out to the Get Hip! showcase to catch some more great acts. The Ugly Beats, The Stems, Paul Collins Beat, and the AMAZING band The Cynics!! Paul's current favorite band!! What a show! A good time was had by all and only one more show left to do..........
On the Sunday afternoon before everyone departed this most amazing city of Austin to fly home and recover from the party experience that is SXSW, we played Headhunters.
Our final show over and everyone starting to wind down, off we go to a party close by. We were invited by Paul Collins who played a cool, energetic
set righ in someone's side yard. Did we already mention what a cool town Austin is!! Cyril even sat in for a tune on Vocals.
All that was left now was for us all to go home, exhausted but excited by all the promise and expectations that being in a great rock'n'roll band gives!!!
We would not trade it for the world.
Thanks to all for coming out to see us.. and to all we bid you goodbye for now.. More to come soon!!!