Two months into the year, two gigs at the Tractor Tavern. Not a bad start to the year so far, same as it ever was.
We were asked to play this show via Dennis, who also plays guitar in Coool Babies, a Talking Heads tribute band. Maybe Seattle is a tribute band town, but I find it quite interesting that one of the best clubs in town, the Tractor, makes a habit of booking bands like CB, the IRS (REM tribute band), Wild Rumours (Fleetwood Mac), HalloQueen (Queen), and now us, a yacht rock band. Though we aren't the headliner, still a nice get for us.
As always, soundcheck is scheduled 4 hours prior to first note, which seems excessive. I left the house at 4:45 for a 5:30 arrival and the CBs hadn't finished setting up yet. An astounding 9 members to this band: singer/acoustic guitar, 2 backing singers, bassist, keys, drummer, percussionist, guitarist and guitar/keys. Outside of high school band, I have never been in a band that big. Imagine the scheduling drama! But they got their sounds checked and they sounded great.
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| Coool Babies |
We finally got to sound check and it was what it was. I had my IEMs with me and my Zoom pedal; no onstage rig for me. All the sounds were working, I could hear Jacob (the sound guy), as well as my mates, but to me, it seems like getting sounds dialed in an IEM setting vs floor wedges takes more nuance and time.
Lucky for us, Jacob had worked with us before at a couple of private gigs and is also super patient. He got my bass and vocals up front, with everything else lower for reference. Adding to the difficulty of getting a perfect mix was being right next to Eric, who does not use IEMs, and had a floor wedge blasting up at him. It seemed quite loud and I could hear it in my IEMs, but I was able to work around it.
We did a couple song run-throughs, then got off stage to get some food. Headed a few doors north to Hattie's Hat for a burger and a water (no pix), chatted with Dennis, Jen, Dusty and Jacob (Eric stayed behind with a salad) for a few, then headed back to the Tractor.
We were unsure as to how many people to expect. I hardly ever, EVER, have people come out, and my mates don't have many either. We were hoping to have a built in Tractor crowd, and whatever Coool Babies/Talking Heads fans there were. Getting back inside, there was a nice crowd milling around. We got changed into our denim tops/white bottoms, and then hung out for a few more before hitting the stage.
I was pleasantly surprised at how large the crowd was. I'd be fooling myself if I thought they were there to see us. Regardless, it was excellent to play to that many people. I had sunglasses on and though I could see what I was playing, I couldn't see the crowd that well. The few times I peeked over the lenses, I was excited to see how many were out there.
We started with Don't Stop (Fleetwood Mac) and I felt really good about it. Nice, easy start to the show with a crowd pleaser. Folks were dancing, but still a little shy; they stood about 3-5 feet from the stage. No stage banter to start, or after that song, as we jumped into Brandy (Looking Glass). After that tune, we said howdy and we were off. The crowd really got into the songs; I could hear them singing along and having a great time.
Because we were the opener, we had a relatively short set, around an hour. We blasted through I Feel The Earth Move (Carole King) and Couldn't Get It Right (Climax Blues Band). Things felt and sounded great. Jen looked great in a little white dress, denim shirt and cowboy boots. She held it down and did her thing. Dennis ripped up his guitar parts, Eric threw down on Evil Woman (ELO) and Dancing in the Moonlight (King Harvest). Dusty and I locked in the grooves in Maneater (Hall & Oates) and Reelin in the Years (Steely Dan). We finished the night with Hold the Line (Toto) and Ride like the Wind (Christopher Cross), and before we knew it, we were done.
I got my stuff off the stage and got a Mexican Coke from the bar. A few people offered some nice words and thanks for our efforts. Getting back through the crowd was challenging; so many people, no room to maneuver and did get an accidental elbow to the cheek by a guy who was energetically dancing to one of the Coool Babies songs.
Once I got back to the side-stage, I got a few pictures of the crowd.
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| After we got off the stage. |
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| Coool Babies on the stage. |
I have never been a Talking Heads fan. I know the hits from the radio and pop culture, but never got into what TH music is about. I did go in with an open mind, but to me, the songs are fairly static, and the vibe that is created is lost on me. Clearly it's a "me" issue and not an "everyone else" issue as the joy and happiness on the crowds faces while they sang and danced along was very evident. I really enjoyed watching Lauren and Kathy, the two background singers, on stage. They had some choreographed moves and great, fun energy. The other musicians were all excellent and they played really well and did the songs justice. Roger, the singer, even came back later with the trademark HUGE suit (no pix).
At the end of the night, we got to all chat a bit and trade numbers, etc. The members of CB are all quite cool and us in the SG hope to collaborate with some of them to fill out our sound more from time to time. Don't know what the payout is yet, but hope it's a nice chunk. Hope we get some leads as well; I heard people were asking about hiring us for future parties, etc.
Really fun night at the Tractor. I talked to a young photog who had a giant Canon pro lens on her camera. She said she was an apprentice shooting with a "famous concert photographer" named Wayne. I didn't get their info, but she said she'd be getting us pictures soon. Hopefully that's the case, we seem to never get pics or videos unless we do them ourselves. I'll post them if I get them.
In the meantime, up next, Planets at Darrell's Tavern in a month with our pals, the Pop Cycle, and new friends, the Rallies (of which their bassist is the same guy, Ben, that played with Coool Babies).
