03/07/2025, PITO at Darrell's Tavern

Only the second gig of the year, and wish there were more, but it is what it is. For this show, though, I also got to play with Sherri and Michael from Del Vox, who I sat in with last year. Aimee was gonna be on drums, but she had to bail last minute, so my old friend, Perry Morgan, sat in on drums. He and I played together briefly in Shake Some Action! like 15 years ago or so? I can't remember specifically.

Perry was also in one of Robb's previous bands, Glass Notes or something. And then he had a shot with Stereo Embers, I think, before Cass got the gig. I don't think Perry had played with Del Vox before, so we all met last Monday for a quick rehearsal at Sherri's house. It was great; Perry had done his homework and my week or so of running the tunes really helped as well.

Robb had put this gig together a bit ago, with Planets, Del Vox, and a band called Guardian Alien. I didn't know anything about them, other than hearing that the band had a banjo player and a bit of a cult following.

Better than an AI poster, I suppose

For this show, I was finally able to get PITO to play one of our first songs, one we recorded in the summer of 2020 via file sharing. It was COVID days and Robb sent over some tracks to Cass and I, and we built a song called "Take a Knee," that Cass wrote the lyrics to. We put it on Bandcamp and that was it. That song and another one, "Hold On," are really cool and I would love to dust that one off as well. But for this gig, we rehearsed "Take a Knee."

Come showtime, I provided backline, with the Orange Terror Bass and my Avatar 212. I brought the Hog with the Butter bass as backup. After getting set up, I took the stage with Del Vox. The set went pretty well, way better than last year's go-round. Sherri's songs are pretty straightforward, but with subtle twists, like throwing in a 3rd verse before a chorus, or maybe a single bar turnaround instead of a double (as was done earlier in the song). Having rehearsed it a bunch on my own certainly helped, imagine that!

my toys

I stayed pretty chill on the performance side of things; I was the hired gun so I didn't want to step on any toes. With last year's gig, I was more energetic and it seemed weird; DV isn't that type of band. I felt like what I did fit the vibe better.

We finished and I got some flowers from some folks in the crowd (small, but appreciative). Got multiple comments about my tone and my playing. I always like the tone comments; on stage, it sounded a bit nasally for whatever reason. I tried bringing down the mids and boosting the bass a little, but it didn't really help.

With PITO, I stretched my legs a bit. It was cool to play with DV, but PITO is my band and it was time to do what we do. Cass wrote up the set list and we started with Dust Cloud, which I have wanted to open with as well. As we played and I sang, I realized the sound guy didn't have my mic turned on, which was a bit of a bummer.

After that song, it turns out he had the wrong XLR cable plugged in. Once he fixed that, my vox were in the mix, but stage volume was rough. Robb's guitar cab was on the other side of the stage, but elevated and aimed right at him and I. In fact, I think it was so loud, that there were times he couldn't hear himself sing. Either that, or he forgot his lyrics, I'm not sure. I recorded audio, so I'll have to listen back.

Tom M. with the pic

We ripped through the set and afterward, more positive comments. A couple dudes admired the Hog, one couple commented that I was less energetic during band 1, at which time I told them I was a hired gun. Kim came and gushed at how we should be playing bigger stages. That's high praise coming from her. She will tell us when we stink, so when we don't stink, it's great feedback from her.

Guardian Alien rushed the stage when we were still tearing down. It sort of annoyed me; there is some unspoken band etiquette, but I guess they thought it was running late. One guy grabbed my cab and rolled it to the other side of the stage. I was about to tell him to not touch my stuff, but it was OK, I guess, I didn't want to be that guy.

They got set up eventually and started with some boring drone stuff, I don't know if it was for soundcheck or just a vibe set. Well, they undersold themselves. They started playing, a four-piece with drums, bass, sax and banjo/vox, and they were solid, tight, imaginative, and thought-provoking. My vantage point wasn't best for all audio, but I could see fine and what I saw and heard was actually really cool. As annoyed as I wanted to be with them for bum-rushing the stage, I was actually really impressed and entertained by them.

Guardian Alien

Overall, a nice night. I got $65 from Sherri, which was down from last year, but we didn't discuss payment and I'll take the cash. $130 for Planets, but that's gonna go in the mixing fund. For now, no more Planets gigs until late-May, so I hope we get something in the meantime.

Next up, Sunset Grooves in April.