2026-01-09 Thrashed Behind the Eyes, Once For Kicks, Mopsey at Slim's Last Chance

For some dumb reason, I made a new year's resolution to see at least one show a month that I don't play in. When I went to the Sunset at the end of 2025 to see Pop Cycle, Rallies and Royal Blunder, it really was cool and a lot of fun. Plus, making connections will just get people to come to my shows, so, like everything else, it really is all about me.

After talking to some friends about this show, it seemed like there'd be more people at Slim's than at for my own shows. I showed up a little after 8, after having not picked up Mike and Amy since they got hung up on the light rail. The place was fairly packed, what with Slim's recently announcing they'd stop shows in mid-Feb this year. Though rumors are swirling that Mason from Tim's is purchasing the place; I've heard it from multiple people, including in the club that night, but I am a nobody and maybe I'm being trolled.

Anyway, these three bands, Thrashed Behind the Eyes, Once For Kicks and Mopsey, all have their own little legacies and people I recognized. As a result, there were plenty of scenesters in the room. Other bands were there as well, and I may have had a hand in that, bringing out Brian, Tom and Lee from Full Life Crisis. The aforementioned Mike and Amy were there, as was Jeff, doodling his pictures up front. I saw Fred Speakman, who helped me get my amp back.

Brian Hughes plays bass in TBTE and OFK, and he backlined his rig, two Aguilar SL12s and a Mesa Boogie head of some sort. He's seen a bunch of Planets shows and is always super nice. I had never seen him play, so I wanted to check him out.

Thrashed Behind the Eyes

TBTE started things off. Brian played a nice sunburst P and his band was a little garagey, a little grungy and pretty cool. I couldn't hear his bass much, but that changed for OFK.

Once For Kicks

OFK featured Kurt Bloch on guitar and Bill Coury on vocals. I have seen Kurt a bunch, but I only know Bill from when he fronted Thee Sgt. Major back in the day. They were great when I saw/played with them with the Lunds. And OFK was really really cool. Poppy catchy tunes and Brian's bass playing really shined. He played a Stingray and it cut through the mix a lot better. His lines were complex and that band would be a ton of fun to play in.

During one of the sets, a woman asked if I played in "Planets Run The Ocean." At least that's what I thought she said. I straightened her out and she introduced herself as Hennessy and that she has a Planets sticker on her coffee mug. Apparently she loved one of our songs, called it "haunting," but she didn't know the title and when she asked us about it at a show, we didn't either.

Mopsey

Mopsey finished the night with their tight ass guitars and pounding rhythm section. Jason on drums is so fantastic. Their songs are so high energy. Sadly, Brian's amp acted weird for the first song, so I couldn't hear Richard's Jazz bass at all. Then he got it dialed up for the second song but it was too quiet. That is, until someone in the crowd walked up front and asked Richard to turn up. Note to self: if it's too quiet for me, it is too quiet; say something!

Overall, a cool night at Slim's. I have great hope for when we play there in a few weeks that it will be well-attended, with Stag headlining.

Not sure who's playing where next month, but it'll be fun to go to another show!

NBD: G&L LB-100!

This could totally be defined as an impulse buy. It was not in the plans, it wasn't even in my mind. But after a poke lunch in Redmond, followed by ice cream, we headed to Redmond Town Center and decided to check out the Guitar Center. All I wanted was a speaker cable to be able to keep one at home as I only have 2 and those stay at Robb's house.

I headed back to the bass corner and saw an orange P-bass with a black pickguard. Then I realized it was a G&L LB-100, which I'd been thinking about for a minute. There are some great looking Tribute versions, at a not-bad price point of $599 or so, but, with two P's at home already, why would I need another one?

Anyway, I picked it off the wall and was stoked because it had flats on it. Interestingly enough, upon checking the headstock, I totally thought it would be a Tribute, but the price tag at $999 and the CLF s/n plate on the back of the headstock indicated otherwise. The front of the headstock, however, was mysterious. It totally had the G&L logo, but no LB-100 sticker. Instead, it simply said, "BASS."

First play of this bass

I plugged it into a nearby MarkBass amp and played it. And it was pretty sweet. Low action, nice flats, played well through that amp. It was different than either of my Fenders, but it definitely sounded like a P. It was in great condition, no major dings or anything on it. No scratchy pots, nothing weird. After playing a few minutes, I said, nope, I have a new car to make payments on, I don't need another bass, so I hung it back up.

In the meantime, Marci had found the speaker cables, so I took a walk to the back of the store with her. I figured I'd think about it. By the time I got back to their front desk, I decided to play it some more. I messaged my band, trying to have them talk some sense into me, which instead of doing that, they encouraged it.

So I bought it. Marci was down with it, so much so, she picked out an orange flowered strap for me to put on it. The sales guy went off to find a case for it; since the bass is a Fullerton model (I think?), it would've come with a nice case. At first, I didn't want a case, but he was gonna check, but it turned out he couldn't find it. No big deal, I have plenty of cases. I grabbed it and chucked it in the car without a case and off we went.

At the sales counter

In the car, off we go!

After cleaning my prep area, I took the strings off the headstock and got to work oiling the fretboard and cleaning the fingerprints off the guitar. At the store I noticed the strap peg on the front horn was loose, so I attempted to tighten it. When I did, it didn't sit flush because it seemed like the hole was drilled at a weird angle. I found a felt pad in my junk and put it there to make up the difference after I tightened it up. I thought about taking the neck off to check the dates of manufacture, but I didn't as I wanted to play it some more.

I plugged it into the aforementioned Ashdown and it sounded great! I think the action may be a little too low for heavy pick playing; the pick sound is very clicky if one of my EQ sliders is not zeroed out (don't know which freq). Fingerstyle, it sounds just fine. I compared with my other P basses and they all offer something unique and usable.

the BASS headstock

Shiny backside, check the strap

Lookin' tight before wiping it down!

Looking forward to busting it out with the Ashdown on Thursday at practice. In the meantime, will mess around with it at home!