Low Profile live at Cal’s
Saturday November 8th
with the Powerknobs, the Paperbacks and Run Chico Run
This was an awesome show. I had a blast. Getting there was kinda weird. There r so many fucked up one way streets right around there that I couldn’t seem to get right in front of Cal’s on Wells street so I parked about 3 blocks away which was fine with me. That part of the city was dead. Many closed up bars and clubs and no one really out whatsoever. Cal’s is pretty crazy. It is very small and got very crowded quick which was great. We were doing shots out of paper Dixie cups which was weird but fine with me.
Right off the bat, thanks go out to the Powerknobs for booking us. When Bill offered the show, we gladly accepted right on the spot. Then I’ll thank Lisa and Jessica, my sister and Kelly, Scott, Dan (here with Rob) and Rocky.
We played first which was great for all of us. Our set was pretty awesome and people seemed to get into it. We played:
Hot Mom
What I Failed To Mention
All the Wrong Reasons
Low Pro pt 1
Folsom Prison Blues (originally by Johnny Cash)
Walk Dont Run
King of the Hill (theme)
JPF
Solitaire
Think About It
Execution Style
Sorority Shakedown/Wild Colonial Boy (psyche out intro)
I think thats everything. The set was sort of a blur as most are but it was fun. Williams hung up our set list on the wall along with many others that bands have hung up over the years.
Run Chico Run were up next. They just had two members and they just had a totally different sound from anything I’ve ever heard before. Both members were master musicians. I was talking with Joseph before the show and he was just an all around cool guy. Telling me about being on tour and playing up in Canada and getting harrassed at the border and other stuff. Their set was crazy for sure. They blew a fuse or something at some point and the power went out on all their equiptment but was soon fixed.
While they played, I made a break for it and went out to my car with a select few to smoke up. Then went back in for a few rounds of Jagr and more beer and I was feeling fabulous.
Next up was the Paperbacks. They were a 5 piece band with a wild chick singer. She is a great frontperson. Going wild, slamming into people, jumping up on the bar, etc. They played a real raucous set. The power went out while they played also. Too much shit plugged in or something.
The beloved Powerknobs played last. Their set was great. Very high energy and they got people dancing. Even Jon from Windy City Music was up front dancing along. My favorite song from their set of course was Cell Block Strut. They played Wild Colonial Boy also and rocked it to the fullest!!!!! They busted in to a lil ‘Javold’ at the end as well!!!
Much fun was had by all.
-ERIK
the night before the show i had some major insomnia. which was bad, since we were going to practice as usual at noon on saturday. usually we wouldnt practice the day of a show but we wanted to run thru JPF at least since it would be our first time playing it live.
i got up at noon on only about 4 1/2 hours of sleep and went to practice. we ran thru the set and i went back home to try and chill. i was planning to go back to bed but ended up staying up. my girfriend came over and we made some grub and then i passed out at about 730. all day (and the week prior) i was trying to decide if i should take the train or drive or have her drive or what. i finally decided to drive there myself and fight for parking or pay, it was too cold to take the train. so i went to bad around 630 and told her to wake me up at 730. i woke up on my own around 745 and she wasnt even there. she showed up right after that and we left. then she forgot her ID and we had to turn back a couple miles from home. im not trying to rip on my girl in todays review but this shit was trying my patience. (here she is with rob). luckily 290 had zero traffic and cals is right off the exit. i rolled up on a nice parking spot about 2-3 blocks away and we were actually pretty early. i called ross from the knobs and he said he was on the way. we chilled in the car for minute then grabbed my gear and started walking over. rob pulled up as we were doing so and he found some parking too. then i saw dr. z and gaynor cruise by looking for a spot. we walked up to the club and bill was there with ross loading in. we loaded in to and checked out the joint, looked pretty tight. the guys from run chico run were already there and they were super nice. we met mike the bartender and ordered some PBR’s. the paperbacks showed up right then too and then hilger finally showed. (here he is with his girlfriend lisa and one of the guys from run chico run)
we went on first and the club was suddenly packed. i still am not sure who all those people came to see (not us!). we rocked out a hell of a set and it felt really good. i had good stamina and the songs were solid. i used bills amp and it sounded pretty good, although if i would have been able to turn it up more it would have sounded way better, but that bitch is fucking loud so it wasnt really possible. even rob was borrowing ross’s drums and hilger was using andrews bass amp! fucking awesome! total knobs style!
well after that we lounged around. run chico run was next. at first my reaction was ‘what the fuck?!?!?!’ but these guys are musical geniuses. there are only 2 dudes in the band. they had a few different configurations and both of them can play all insturments. they started out with 1 dude on keys and the other on drums, but the drummer would sometimes play with one hand and be jammin bass riffs on a lil keyboard by the drums. eventually one of them started playing guitars instead of keys. i think that they switched something in every single song. after the 3rd song or so i was diggin it, real smooth jazz shit with sometimes high falsetto vocals. these guys are from british columbia, canada and are super nice. they must have a hell of a time hauling so much gear around….seemed like they have wires everywhere.
next up were the paperbacks. they have a chick singer and play some racous rock n roll type punk. they were pretty good but their frontperson had the complex where they have to destroy mics and shit. thats uncalled for. ripping the mic out of the cable, fucking up the mic stands, etc…. as a coincidence (i think) the PA head just died after it lost power a couple times. i dont know if it blew a fuse or what but mike busted out another head and got the show back underway. that band was just crazy.
some guy noticed my BOLD tattoo sometime along this point and we started talking about new york hardcore. i pulled my sweaty show shirt (gorilla biscuits) out of my bin and showed him and he was loving that. i also went outside and took some random pics as at this point i was getting a lil buzzed off some guiness and jameson and jager. there is a crazy club next door called the crocodile room that was bumpin music real loud and had velvet ropes and everything outside. it was the total opposite of cals. there was a huge guy standing outside cals who i guess was a bouncer of sorts and i saw a porsche parked right infront of us. i jokingly asked if it was his — he said that ‘that’ was his ride (a bike). the crocodile room looks pretty high class.
well the mighty knobs were up last. cell block strut was definately the highlight. that has definately become my fav song of theirs. they ended with uncivilized with dr. z on vocals which was great. after that for an encore they became jimmy dumpling and the bitburg boys and busted out their hit song ‘javold’ with andrew on the keys and a gang of people singing along with dr. z and bill knobs. someone started spraying a rolling rock and it got me right in the face.
well i jetted soon after that and me and my girlfriend were dying from food deprivation. we had both eaten only once much earlier in the day. we went to jewel and copped some cream cheese and chips and some fish sticks. i mixed some of that cream cheese with some harry and davids onion and pepper relish i had been saving and ate that up. we made some tartar sauce and ate the fish and it was real good. another awesome show…what else can i say?
–satan165
