got this show from josh of after the fight. which is interesting cause when we played there the 1st time a year before almost, we got it from josh who was then in burnside bridge. the owner les sometimes is a dick and will bitch that you didnt bring enough people, yet hell call you back then asking if you want to play again. this time around i guess he called josh, asked if he wanted to play and even offered him money right off the bat! well we got on the bill and i was excited from the get-go.
i chilled out before hand and had some red bull vodka (way to ‘chill out’!) and sat with johnny as he ate a pizza and offered some to anyone that walked by. of course johnny and cory had to wear their burnside bridge shirts, which i also wore. we looked like a bunch of dorks probably.
the burbanks were supposed to play but i guess johnny never told mark about the show, and mark had to be out of town. so at the last minute the burbanks were faced with the possibility of canceling the show. but johnny just switched to guitar and played what songs they could. i even came up and sang ‘where did you go’ for em. im glad they were able to find a way to be able to still do the gig.
the 1st act was this dude named drew neely. he used to be in a band called thrift store heros. i guess this guy has also done production work for other bands, including split habit who i like alot. he played just by himself with acoustic guitar. he also left i believe before we went on at the end of the night. i wasnt feelin his set but he knew what he was doing well enough.
well after the fight went on right before us, the third of 4 acts. they are always a pleasure personally and i was eager to check out their new sound. they definatley have a bit more ‘edge’ then burnside bridge and i like em better, tho i was a fan of burnsides sound as well. they played as a well oiled machine thats been gigging for years although they have only recently assembled the band. im sure they will try to depreciate themselves but they sounded great. they played one awesome song i can find no info about on their site called ‘i dont know’ (i guess thats what its called), it was pretty heavy and i dug it alot. well i started getting pretty anxious, more anxious then usual i think. i really wanted to just get up there and get our set underway so i could release the tension inside of me that was building to a point of being way out of fucking hand. lately ive gotten my anxiety under control but it was bad this night. it seemed like they were playing an epic set of 100 10 minute songs tho they were probably only up there for like 20 minutes. they eventually played a ramones song and some dude they knew came up and sang it which was cool.
allow me to sidetrack….at some point early on in their set i saw rob sitting alone at the bar. they have a nice set up like they used to have at smiler coogans (RIP) where they have a camera on the stage and you can watch it on the tv in the other room.i sat down next to him and we talked for a second and another dude came up and sat down. although there were other seats, he chose to squeeze in on the last stool on the bar, which i felt invaded our space a lil bit. but hey, its a free country. there was a lull in me and robs conversation and this guy just blurts out ‘yeah…i played here 17 years ago’ or some such nonsense. i looked at rob to see if maybe i missed something and he knew this guy. the guy went on then about this and that and his illustrious musical career. he was just dropping club names and rambling on…during a lull i quietly whispered to rob ‘do you know this guy?’ and rob said no, which surprised me. ive met a few people like this before but this time i was certain there was some justification for this outburst of ego stroking. i grabbed a cd and gave it to him which brought no questions or comments about our own music, only more bullshit about his own. after i gave him the cd i had to take a pic of this asswipe.. he was like ‘did you just take a pic of me?’. i answered a very serious ‘no’. hahahahah you dummy. after a few minutes of his bullshit i just walked away.
well after the fight was winding down their set and someone kept yelling the VERY old and cliched joke ‘play free bird!’. cory or someone started fucking with the chords and starting to play it and this guy that was at the bar with me and rob must have nearly split his drawers with a massive throbbing boner. being that he is a washed up dirtbag, he jumped at the chance to be able to pull this impromptu jam. josh gave him his guitar and started playing free bird. they all started playing it and he was singing it. now i dont fault ATF for not knowing the song as they dont play recycled classic rock. but this asshole who jumped up didnt even know.
heres a little lesson of freebird. i learned to play this a VERY long time ago. this asshole was confused with the verse
verse:
G / F# / Em
F / C / D
when he got to the C i watched him fumble around even tho he had no clue what the chord was.
then the chorus he also was confused about, which makes sense since the chorus is the 2nd half of the verse (F / C / D). and to complete the lesson (tho its of little relevance to the story) the final ending change that plays for 8 minutes during the mindless soloing is G / A# / C. he played a few of the riffs decently from teh solo ad infinitum and my anxiety was turning to anger. ill listen to after the fight play as long as they want because they are a good band, they play punk rock, i like them and they booked the show. but listening to this guy was turning my mind into mush. finally they ended the song but this jerk off wasnt done! he made some lame announcement that ‘im just a chicago firefighter’ which, like his announcement to me and rob that he had played the venue 2 decades ago was IRRELEVANT. they went into a led zepplin song (i believe) and more mindless soloing. then he left the stage with little grace, waving to the crowd like he was a superstar. in his own weak defense, many of the people were actually entertained with his feeble attempts which butchered these classic songs. he even went and was shaking hands with people! i guess it was a ‘meet and greet’. that guy sucks big time, go start your own goddamned band. because when and if you do, ILL NEVER PLAY A SHOW WITH YOU. and its that freedom which i love that keeps me from having to deal with you.
well anyways we finally got on stage. the PA and monitors sounded great and my voice held up better then it had for many of our recent shows. we played a couple face to face songs which would normally strain me but i felt real strong. our engineer scott came out which was awesome, i was very excited to play the new songs he recorded for him live. i sweat at a consistent pace and never really felt exhausted up there. we had one near trainwreck during ‘use your mind’ by guttermouth but somehow pulled out of it. you can blame rob for that one! good gig altogether. at the end of the set rob recommended that we play ‘studio nightmare’, our new instrumental. i was nervous we might fuck it up, and i was nervous it might be boring. but it really moved me once we started playing it and it was alot of fun. rob said he gets alot of comments on that song — all the people i know only give me comments on the damn voice mails! he must have some more attentive fans.
also thanx to the voice mail master dave mazur for coming out to the show. also to metko and bones. metko was super excited to get the new cd, i hope he enjoyed it.
after the show i went next door to the 24 hour place whos name always eludes me. sallys? i dont know.heres a pic, night mode and long exposure time dont work too well when youre exhausted after a show and a bit drunk well i walked up and was about to order and a dude, his girlfriend and another dude came up beind me to get in line. after we both ordered and were waiting for our food, i heard the three of them start discussing the movie ‘true romance’ which is definitely a great movie. the one dude was explaining the difference between the rated R and NC-17 versions. i jumped into the conversation and we started discussing cinema. we were giving props to true romance and to quentin tarintino also, i started giving props to tony scott who directed it. it was awesome and this one dude (not the boyfriend, the ‘3rd wheel’) was knowledgeable and we were agreeing on most shit. i dropped a coin and it fell into some water and he reached for it. i was like ‘no its cool dude’ but he grabbed it from the puddle. i said ‘thanx man, youre a good soul’.
just then 2 crazy redneck white trashers walked up. one was a dude super skinny, wearing like a shirt for a bowling league in tennessee (no kidding) and he had a mullet and looked like a scumbag. he had a huge fat bitch with him. well he walked up and immediately says ‘a soul is a dead person…so youre basically saying hes dead’. i was so blown away by that ignorant comment i couldnt even respond. i thought about just saying ‘fuck you motherfucker’ but decided not to. it got quiet then which sucked. then the 3 somes food was ready and one dude grabbed it. he grabbed a cup of pop made of foam and somehow busted thru it with his finger and coke sprayed everywhere. we all kind of laughed. the chick tried to return the cup of pop for another but the lady in the window is a notorious bitch and she refused. so this chick threw the cup of coke into the garbage cause she was pissed and it sprayed a lil bit on this red neck. the chick said something like ‘that bitch wont give me another one [throws pop] sorry, im just really pissed [apologizing to redneck]’.
the redneck looked pissed but said nothing adn the 3 some left. then another dude walked up. this dude was real drunk, tho certainly so was i and the redneck. but this guy was a little more wasted. he started saying how he had been coming here drunk to eat for like 15 years. i said it was awesome and now me and this dude had struck up a conversation. the redneck butted in at some point and actually had the balls to scold me for swearing in front of this fat bitch who i guess was underage. i told the redneck ‘deal with it’. he kept saying how it was wrong and i kept saying louder and louder ‘deal with it!’. he kept talking and then i started to test him cause i felt like maybe this drunk dude would have my back a lil bit and i said ‘youll do nothing about it and youll like it’. and other arrogant shit. well basically then all our food was ready and i jetted out. i drove home and ate it and felt real tired. i took a shower and somehow got some strength back to stay up a few more hours and update teh site.
oh yeah. and dont ask whats up with this dude, i dont know.
–satan165
Low Profile live at Fantasy Lounge
Friday July 9th
with After the Fight, 2/3 of the Burbanks and Drew Neely
I’d been looking forward to this show for a long time. It has finally come and gone. And I had a blast!!!!
I had a crazy week with work and all so it was nice to let loose and release some of that angst. No better way to do that than by playing a good live set. So I took off work around noon and did some errands, ate, chilled, jammed a lil to loosen up, showered, paced around my apartment aimlessly till it was time for me to start loading my car. As I was loading, the phone rang and my buddy Dave Mazur called so I invited him along to the show and he followed me there but I sort of lost him on the way. He caught up with me later tho. I got there right around 8:30. Everything was set up and pretty much ready to go. We all chilled, mingled and drank for awhile and then Drew Neely started up his set. He played a bunch of acoustic songs solo. Pretty good stuff. The Burbanks were up next. They played with Johnny on guitar and vocals and the always so lovely Betty on drums.
Marky was out of town so they played Local H style. They are always fun and I truly love these guys. They played ‘Where Did You Go’ and Satan walked up and took the vocals for it. He sang the last verse all demonic and death metal style. It was hysterical. This was our 5th time playing with them. Luv u Burbanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After the Fight played next. If u don’t know about these guys, get to know em. They rock and are making a great start. This was our first time playing with them but my second time seeing them. And so many people sporting the Burnside Bridge tshirt. I’ve got one and I was tempted to wear it but knew there would be at least 1 person with it on and there ended up being like 4 people with em on. hahahaha. thats great. Twinsy’s!!!!
We played last. Didn’t go on till around or past midnight I think. I’m not too sure. I hate playing last cuz u have to pace yourself drinking. Well, i guess u don’t have to. But we do. I drank just enough before and after we played so that I was feeling pretty fucking good all night. So when we play last, I get real anxious and can’t wait to go jam. It makes me a lil crazy. I’m not the most patient of people. But oh well. The good thing about playing last is that u can just keep playing on and on till people start leaving or they pull the plug on u.
So we used other peoples amps for the show. I used ATF Steve’s amp so thanks Steve!!!! It just made things much easier. Less equipment wasting space, allows me to be lazy and walk in with just 2 basses and my box o’ stuff and bag o’ shirts, no heavy amp to lug around, etc.
So our set was something like this:
Milwaukee
Zamboni
The Will to Kill
Ultraviolence
I’m Trying (originally by Face to Face)
Use Your Mind (originally by Guttermouth)
Hotboxed
What I Failed to Mention
All the Wrong Reasons
1000x (originally by Face to Face)
Radical New Idea
King of the Hill theme
American Nightmare (originally by the Misfits)
Folsom Prison Blues (originally by Johnny Cash)
Vampira (originally by the Misfits)
Studio Nightmare
I think thats about all of what we played. It felt real good. Blake brought us some shots of Jagr while we were playing. I practically stopped playing during the song to grab my shot. hahaha.
thanks Blake!!!!!
I drank for free after we played. All my drinks from then on were on the house. Pretty nice of em.
We gave out a bunch of CDs, stickers and tshirts. Rob printed up some real nice promo posters for the new album and gave em to us last night. We hung one up inside the place.
We got paid $50. We played rock paper scissors as usual for the cash. First I played Rob and he beat me so he got $20. Then I played Satan and he also beat me and got the other $20. And I got the 10 spot. hahahaha. I suck at that game. But its fun to play and we’ve been doing it since our early shows. I wonder what the record is of whose lost the most, won the most, etc. hahaha. Anyways. I had a blast. We’ll have to set up some more shows at this place. Both times were fun.
So thanks to Josh for booking us. The owner of the Fantasy Lounge and the lady who brought me all my drinks. After the Fight, Johnny and Betty, Drew Neely all for rocking with us. Scott Herschler. Deech. Dave Mazur, Tracy and Rachael. And everyone else there who watched our set. Also Dave Metko for taking pics and Bones. Thanks a ton!!!! I had a fun night.
-ERIK
