February 7, 2017 - 12:45am
... I have never been this far behind on posts before... the upside... the last couple days have been pretty boring!! Can't wait to write those... they're going to be pretty quick... unless I rant. So, I'm pretty tired... was up around 9am and have sat in the same spot for close to 11hrs now, with the exception of 2 breaks for the gym, and the pool... need to enjoy this place while we have it... since it's looking like a grind starting tomorrow until we make it to Seattle... on the 21st. ... so... Day 17... gonna fast forward a bit... since I think we woke up and... ok now I remember. *tear* We got in super late from Ft Worth. The idea was to drive a bit so it was only a 3hr drive to San Leon... and this was a great plan until we found out the show had 100 bands on it and we didn't get out of there until almost 2am. ... seriously... why they put another band on after Another Lost Year (ALY)... I just don't know. (Warning: tired blog post imminent) ... I get the idea of having a bunch of locals on to spread the word but... 8 bands is way too many... unless it's a battle of the bands... and Wyld Stallyns are going to win anyway... and if you don't know who that is... well... I just dated myself... and you have a movie to watch. ... seriously though, I wouldn't want to play after ALY regardless... the jam is done after they play... the bands were decent... just too many. ... too many bands. </bands> So I think we arrived at the hotel at 5am and the last time I said "go to sleep", the clock was reading 5:30am. Alarm set for 9:30am, just to grab breakfast and then we were back in the van for a "musicians" 11am. Some people hate the idea of this... or think it's a waste of a hotel... but do it for the driver... and for the shower... 4hrs of sleep + a shower goes a long way! Our goal was to make it to San Leon for 3pm... and oh how we tried! So, traffic... it was bad through Houston as well. Not making excuses... but I felt like the GPS said 45 minutes for well over an hour. ... I did a blog post while Reid and Dane live streamed a "van jam"... and I'm sure Brendan wished he could put on those glasses with the open eyeballs painted on them so he could take a nap.... because we weren't going fast enough for any danger. ... I could've nudged the wheel from the passenger seat... would've been fine. Past that though... we started getting concerned. ... sometimes you end up taking roads or going through communities where you start thinking (and not judging), are we sure there's a venue around here? ... because it certainly didn't look like it. ... maybe it's side streets....? Seriously wasn't until the very end of the road, a stones throw from the Gulf of Mexico did we find the venue... and luckily, Lullwaters van. .. oh! Another thing... so many of the properties in the area were raised or on stilts... super weird to see... probably up there with how Americans see Canada and their "bags of milk"... and "ketchup chips"... seriously forgot about that one the other day at Walmart... I settled for Cheese and Sour Cream... because that's normal. *cough* "Don't worry!! It's pretty awesome inside!!" That was reassuring. I'd heard some decent size acts have come through... so I figure the stage/sound must be decent at least. We get in... definitely a decent size room... lots of tables and chairs again (restaurant), but the stage is awesome... drum riser!! Whoa!! Lights!!? Speakers look good, although I oddly know the least about that stuff... only deal with 2 in the studio really... and SHARK!!! Giant shark hanging above me. ... that is rad. We load in... and I get to work finding a hotel. ... there's this Superbowl thing going on this weekend in Houston (1.5hrs away) so... slim pickin's finding rooms that are "affordable". Scrolling down to the bottom of my usual hotel finder... quickly escalates to $950+/night. ... and we can't afford that. :-| ... to finish that up, it took almost 2 hrs of trying to find something that made sense. #SuperInconvenient So there was an opener... I can't remember the exact words but the average of every long-haired awkward teen approached me to introduce himself... he's the drummer of the opener and wanted to know where to put their gear. ... awesome. ... see, without even knowing who they were... I know they're going to rip. Kids do... they learn some covers "of cool bands" (because they're young and cool... and still know what "it" is), and they'll anchor their set off that. ... this is a thing... and this is why the internet freaks out then a 12 year old covers (and nails) prog rock or something. ... side note... I'm sleep deprived and my logic is now giving my ego the gears that I'm about to be lit up by a drummer who wasn't even a twinkle in his daddy's eye when I started playing drums. ... way she goes. ALY showed up a bit later, quickly sound checked and then kid band (15ish I think) got on stage. .... yup... pretty good. I think it was a Brand New cover they sound checked with... female lead vocals... fantastic. Kid bands are awesome. *tear* Long wait until the show started. We got dinner (hoping the venue/promoter would comp... no dice), super tasty! I sat side stage for a bit... half warming up and half thinking I should take a nap... until I noticed a random dude setting up a drum kit. ... another opener I guess. ... really. ... ah well. Watched kid band (I'm sorry I can't remember their name... I feel bad... but not bad enough right now to Google it... actually... one of my early memories in music was when someone asking me my name, then cutting me off telling me I'm not old enough to have a name... you're just "yute"... these kids will get names soon I'm sure.) Highlight of the set... "we're going to play a cover you might know, so sing along if you know it." Dazed and Confused. ... really. ... and it was pretty awesome! lol. ... forgot how long that song was... I don't think I've ever had to learn a song that long. It was fun though... and they looked like they had fun... and then the parents were on stage doing parent things, getting their gear off stage. Parents... get off the stage. I know you want to help, but let your kids do it themselves. They can carry their amps to rehearsal, they can carry them at the gig. If you want to get on stage, start a band, book a show... otherwise... don't ruin the cool with the sometimes uncool helpful hand of parenting. ... that being said, the yute still want you there to see them play... but just hang off to the side... be cool parents. (... the guys just returned from doing some promo downtown Austin... thank you Brendan.) So it turns out there's another local opener.... another female fronted opener... and a doom/metal band!! I got some video and stood in front of the stage, nodding approvingly for a bit. ... I looked around to make sure none of the parents were nodding approvingly as well. ... I went back side stage after a couple songs and fell asleep. (... 100% Zzz's until they finished playing.) Lullwater was good again... starting to get a feel for their set and learn the tunes. Our set was good... Reid made use of that drum riser... thought a couple times he might crack his skull off the ceiling jumping off my kick drum... not a lot of room for error. The crowd was fun though... a few people in particular that were singing along to the MDD tunes. Late night trying to get out of there though... had a bit of a pow wow outside after everyone loaded up. The weather was perfect for it... but we still had an 1.5hr drive to get to our hotel. #logistics I went a little "dad" trying to get people to hurry up and say their "see you laters"... believe me, I'm sure that bottle of Jameson will drink itself if nobody is drinking it. *cough* Spent way too long at McDrivethru.... then finally at the hotel by 3:30am. ... random people were asking for rooms as we were checking... nobody has anything... Superbowl dude. Alright... I need to get to sleep... might not even proof this until morning. ... I'll try and catch up quick tomorrow... only an hour to the venue... - Mike
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Mike Langford - Official BlogBeing on both sides of the glass, I get the chance to wear many hats in the music industry. This is a place to share my thoughts, views, predictions, rants, stories and news! Categories
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