Low Profile live
Thursday April 24th
Champs in Burbank
With the Powerknobs
Big bossman and I have especially been looking forward to this show for sometime. We always luv playing out with the Knobs and knew it would be a lot of fun. And of course it was.
So we met up at Rob’s at 7. Stood around in awe of the gigantic new pool in his back yard and then had to pry ourselves away from it to go load up. So getting to Champs was kinda fucked. We all had a little trouble getting there properly but made it in one piece.
As soon as we get there, we meet the door guy who is down with my Youth of Today shirt and Williams shows him his Bold tat and the dude is definately cool with us now. Dave Evert who I work with at Siegling showed up to see us for the first time. Thanks Dave, hope u enjoyed the show or were at least entertained a bit. And he offered to carry my amp “the beast” in for me so thanks for that also.
Williams cousin Nicole showed up with two of her friends. And of course Jessica was there and as usual was the loudest amongst the audience. So we set up first. Our set was something along the lines of this:
Escape From the Island (originally by Kiss)
Hangin Around (originally by Screeching Weasel)
Boat Dreams From the Hill (originally by Jawbreaker)
Want (also by Jawbreaker)
Summertime (originally by Crimpshrine)
Folsom Prison Blues (originally by Johnny Cash)
Stabbed In The Back (originally by Youth of Today)
Take A Stand (also by Youth of Today)
Wild Colonial Boy (psyche out intro courtesy of Williams)
All Night Party Action (originally by the Powerknobs and with Mike Gaynor on vocals)
Spreading Yourself Thin (originally by Pie in the Sky)
Arnold Palmer and Katie Holmes (requested by Ross)
Hot Mom (requested by Billy Knobs)
Breakin The Law (originally by Judas Priest)
So as u can see, we played all covers just about. That was the plan. But if the Powerknobs request a song, they get it. So they requested two Low Profile songs and we had to play em. It was a fun set. I didn’t have to sing a whole lot which was pretty cool. But I knew I’d blow my voice during the Powerknobs set for sure.
The Powerknobs set up next. They rocked the house. Opened with a lil intro piece and they all sang “hey ho, low pro”. Very cool guys. I dug it. Then Dr. Z and Gaynor switched and they played Uncivilized with Williams and I singin right along.
They played Sorority Shakedown and Testosterone Twist right in the beginning. I peeked at their set list and called out the next song which was supposed to be Library Girl I think but Bill psyched us out and just started playing I’m Bored. They covered White Riot by the Clash. Fucking awesome. I luved it. And they covered Wully Bully and two chicks came up on stage. One sang and the other just shook her ass and we all stared at her beautiful set of bouncing boobies. It was fun.
They closed their set with Bats Blood. What a show.
So we hung out and drank and talked and then loaded out and went to eat at the Mexican place thats right in the lil mini mall where Champs is. I got home at like 2:30 and went to bed at 3 just to wake up at 6:45 for work. And now I have to get ready to go to Halford tonight at the House of Blues. And I’m going to see the Powerknobs play tomorrow night. 3 nights of total partying and music. I can luv that. I’m listening to Talking Heads right now. Sets the mood good for me to sit and write this review.
So we had a blast. It was fun rocking the stage with the Powerknobs once again.
We played here 11 months previous to the day. Then we were booked by Sheri, the owner. This time around she referred us to a fella who calls himself ‘Promo Joe’ although he never promoted shit (at least not successfully) in his life. He allowed us to book the bands, but we had some troubles finding other bands to play. In the end , only the great Knobs were willing to do the show. That’s fine for us. We explained this to ‘Asshole Joe’ (his new, secret pet name) and he failed to ever book any others.
I first dealt with Joe about a month prior to the show date. Although he was confirming the date, he still wanted CD’s from us and the Powerknobs. He also stressed getting flyers for the show to hang up in the club. I originally planned to drive down there but decided against it. So I called him and left a message (rarely answers his phone). I told him that I would be shipping him the flyers and cd’s through the mail. I asked him to please contact me via phone or e-mail to confirm he got the package when it arrived. A few days before the show, he admitted that he never got it but ‘it must be at the club…somewhere’. Stupid fuck.
So we rolled up after getting a bit lost on the way. The bouncer was immediately cool and gave props to the Youth of Today (Hilger was wearing the shirt). A dude named Dave that Hilger works with showed up as well. There were only the two bands, and we just set up on stage right away. We started having some beers and then we got right down to it.
Being that we have 60 songs and 5 albums, somewhere along the way we lost interest in playing out songs at practice. We always find ourselves playing covers. So I made the recommendation before the show that we play a typical practice type set at the show. And we did. The highlight for me was ‘Lost in Space’ by the Misfits. A great fucking song no matter how you cut it, we played it 4th (to conserve energy, it takes a lot out of me, and probably the other guys as well). The drum fills at the end give me the chills every time. It did seem to get a bit of a larger reaction from the crowd them some of the others so I guess they enjoyed it too. I should mention at this point that not unlike many previous Low Profile shows, no one else showed up whatsoever aside from Hilgers co-worker and my cousin and 2 of her friends. But the trusty Knobs were front and center, swilling PBR’s and cheering us on. The sound man ended up telling us that we could play 45 minutes to an hour so we added a few songs to the set. ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ for one because it is such a great song and because Knobs front man Gaynor brought it up before the show. I called him up on stage to sing along but he didn’t know the words too well. He got his chance later when we surprised them with ‘All Night Party Action’. He came up and sang it and the song we had rehearsed for a while went on without a hitch.
The Knobs took the stage and just went off. I am never not amazed by this great, great band. They are unbelievable in their musicianship and professionalism. I got the chance to play guitar with them at the Big Wig a while back on ‘Wild Colonial Boy’ and for this show Gaynor motioned me on stage and handed me the mic. How fucking awesome. I could recite those words in my sleep. Hilger and Rob came up front and sang along and I held out the mic to them to sing into like a real front man.
After the show we chilled a while and drank some more. They had a deal ‘Buckets of Trash’ which was 4 PBR bottles in a bucket with ice for $6. I figure we drank at least 10 buckets. They seemed to just disappear. I guess they called it trash because PBR is so shitty. Normally I’d agree, but they tasted OK that night.
We talked to the sound man and the bouncer about the next days Halford/Testament show (strangely, they were more interested in Testament) and NYHC as well. Very nice fellows, both of them. I have out lots of stickers and flyers and some CD’s also. When we were leaving, I found a CD Hilger had given out lying on the bar. I grabbed it and tried to give it to another drunken patron. This guy was a scumbag and had a very dirty motorcycle jacket on with some shitty air-brushed junk on the back which was extremely faded. He laughed and pushed it away. So if you’re reading this (assuming you can read) fuck yourself in the ass, you cunt.
Then there was a great Mexican place next door open late (Ross said it sucked, tasted good to the rest of us) so Hilger, Rob, me , Bill and Andrew all went over there and ate out balls off. In usual form, I got my food after Andrew and Bill but still finished it first. I’m a slob like that. Jessica stepped outside to get some air since she wasn’t eating and a cop harassed her. Finally made it home and felt like shit as the drunkenness wore off and passed out. All in all, a great show though I still think the Knobs were very disappointed that no one showed up. I didn’t give a fuck cause that’s nothing new to me. They actually have a following and people that like them and few or none that hate them (imagine that!) but as far as I’m concerned it was a success.
