David from Pop Cycle booked this show, asking us to play on a Wednesday, but at the venerable Tractor Tavern. The other band, Royal Blunder, I knew nothing about, other than a few songs on the internet that were pretty lo-fi and chill.
I last played the Tractor in September of 2022 with Kathy Moore, on a Monday, of all nights. She was supporting a traveling singer/songwriter from Atlanta, which means you play when they are in town. It was sparsely attended, but it was the debut of my $100 212 Avatar cabinet, which I was excited about.
As far as my own project at the Tractor, it was with Stereo Embers on New Year's Eve going into 2019, where we opened for Ayron Jones (who is now opening tours for bands like the Rolling Stones and GnR!!). I also saw one of my heroines, Juliana Hatfield, in Feb 2020 before covid shut us all down.
In other words, the Tractor is a pretty big deal in these parts, and for Planets, it was great to get there. We negotiated the opening slot on the weeknight and were a little nervous at maybe a light draw. We haven't drawn super great since revamping and we're trying to build it up.
I left at 5pm for a 6-ish soundcheck, starting my night in the hole and paying $60 for gas right off the bat.
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| the pain, $5.09/gallon for supreme. |
After not even getting a full tank for $60, I headed towards Ballard. I hit something coming off the freeway, seeing it too late in the dark and rain. I thought it was a piece of cardboard or something, but then I heard the grinding of something underneath the car. After pulling over to check, turns out it was a headrest from someone's car. I pulled that ish out and kicked it aside, then made my way to the club.
Jim from Pop Cycle was kind enough to share his incredible Verellen rig. They were about to soundcheck when I arrived. He has a really nice P bass as well, and they sounded great when they did their quick check of things.
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| I would hate to haul this around, but I sure like playing through it. |
As far as basses go, I brought my P and my gold L-1000, with the intent of playing the P. I have flats on it and I've been a little concerned with the action on it. It seems a little low, but I can't seem to get it higher, either with the saddles or truss rod adjusted. I may just take it somewhere and have someone set it up for me.
We did our soundcheck and I thought the bass sounded good. I had earplugs in and was about 10' or so in front of the amp and could hear it well enough. I had Jacob, the sound guy, put my bass in the monitors and was pretty happy with it. I've had thoughts that it can sound kind of twangy and plinky, especially since I'm using a pick, but I try to tame it with generous use of the tone knob.
After soundcheck, it was over to Hattie's Hat for a quick dinner, where Cass and I chatted before being joined by Robb and our friend Ted, who always shoots some vids and pix of us. It was nice to get caught up with him and my bros, and then we headed back next door to play some tunes.
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| Getting back to the Tractor! |
We got on stage and Robb didn't have setlists printed. No big deal, he just called out the songs and off we went. Keeps things interesting. We were pleasantly surprised at the crowd. Based on the payment sheet at the end of the night, there were 60 paid attendees. I don't know how the Tractor felt about that, but we were pretty happy with the turnout. Lots of familiar faces and always some that hadn't seen us but were excited after doing so.
As we played, I felt pretty good about how the bass sounded, but thought it was a little quiet. I didn't want to turn up my stage volume, so I had Jacob put some more bass in the monitors, which helped, but the sound I was getting wasn't great. Again, plinky and twangy and I didn't care for it too much. My buddy Steve, who is a P bass afficionado, told me afterwards it sounded fine, but a little low in the overall room mix. At that point in the gig, not much I could do with it, so I just played through.
Overall, I felt pretty good about the performance. Cass was solid, as always; Robb's vocals were on fire and his guitar playing was nice as well. My vocals were louder than usual and I was told that my bass could have been louder in the mix out front. Lots of compliments on the vocals, though, which I love.
We got off the stage and were followed by the Pop Cycle. They're a quartet, with two singers/guitarists, a bassist and a drummer. I had played with both guitarists in separate projects, then together as yet another project. Both those guys, David and Brett, write great pop rock songs and sing like birds; put 'em together and it's really a great combo. Paul on drums is frenetic and drives the bus; he looks like he's playing on a 60's tv show with his energy and physicality. And Jim plays a solid bass while also singing lead on one X cover (I had to be told it was a cover, that's how up to date I am on X tunes). They played a nice, melodic set and then gave way to Royal Blunder.
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| Pop Cycle at soundcheck. |
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| Crowd was bigger earlier, but still nice. |
As I mentioned earlier, Royal Blunder sounded pretty chill based on what I had heard online. In talking to the dudes before the show, they indicated that this was their third gig together. The guys were a little older than us, except for Danny, the lead guitarist, so I knew it wasn't their first rodeo. They jumped onstage and were quite a bit livelier than I expected. Definitely a rock band; the flyer described them as "psych post punk," and I'll admit, I don't even know what that means.
Anyway, they had good bones and I think more practices and gigs will only make them better. Rob, the singer, looked great on stage and sounded pretty good as well. He had a really high voice, which reminded me of an old singer of mine, Chris, from the Lund Bros. They also did a cover of "I Am the Walrus," which he nailed thanks to that high voice. Bruce on bass played a Rick and it sounded a little thick and muddy; I'm not sure what was happening to the sound in that room, but it seemed weird once I got off stage.
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| Royal Blunder |
Overall, a really nice night at the Tractor. We got paid and after splitting it three ways, I didn't cover my gas and meal ($15 including tip), but as mentioned before, that's not why I do it. The positive vibes, the reconnecting with old friends and making new friends was all good. Hoping to continue growing this band, recording some more songs, putting out a vinyl and playing some bigger shows as we move through 2024.
