July 14, 2003 - The Iron Horse - Northampton, MA - with The Mitchells, and Pictures of Animals
BRIAN: Last night's dialogue between me and my Rogers 1966 4-piece kit. B:great job again, you're the best. R: (forlorn) Yeah. B: what? what's the problem? A stellar show at the Iron Horse! Your champagne sparkle looked awesome under the lights! The kick drum was powerful! R: well, yeah. YOU always tell me how great I am, but those other drummers, I hear them talking. They don't think I'm nearly as great as you think I am; they make me nervous and I always fall apart under the pressure and they get angry. I never fall apart for you, just the others. Perhaps you shouldn't lend me out anymore. Or perhaps you should go and buy a brand new 7 piece deep shell Pearl set. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm OLD. B: or perhaps I should just get off my lazy arse and try to find the couple parts that would make you good as new. But yeah, it does break my heart to hear about your falling apart when other drummers play you. I'll be visiting ebay soon. You are the best and I'll get a 7 piece Pearl kit when I get an SUV and a pro GW bumper sticker to go with it. Hey: so, we have TWO recordings o flast night's show. Nate and Ed. I think it'll be fun to hear. MAX: I think some of the band, myself included, were kind of dreading last night's Iron Horse show. With only two weeks to promote it, a relatively high ticket, and a Monday night we feared playing to a big empty Horse. Thankfully, Pictures of Animals brought a nice large crowd who generally stuck around for three sets of unfamiliar music. Maybe the glue we spread over the chairs worked after all. In any case, Pictures of Animals pulled off an energetic, tight set of edgy melodic pop. Their bassist Adam and I shared the stage a few weeks ago when his other band the Smokejumpers played with Spanish For Hitchhiking. I look forward to joining Pictures of Animals at Pearl Street in a few weeks for the Madonna tribute (with the Fawns). There was some confusion earlier in the evening, when, by chance, Caleb from the Mitchells arrived 'early' in preparation for their 9:15 set. Except Schooly D had been given the last spot and Henning was worried that some fans might miss our set if we switched. As two Mitchells were coming from Boston and Connecticut, nerves were frazzled and a fist fight broke out between Henning and Caleb in broad daylight. Luckily, our strongman Tony jumped into the fray and pulled the men apart. That black eye and busted lip Tony was dressed up in last night? As he diplomatically stated, "just part of the job". I think he was feeling better after the woman in the nurse outfit and fishnet stockings treated his wounds, downstairs in the green room. You gotta hand it to the Iron Horse: while the headliners weren't served any dinner and there was no free beer in our rider, at least their house nurse was cute. During the Mitchells' set, a crack opened in the Iron Horse ceiling and a light fell down from the heavens on Caleb's bobbing head. Then a big booming voice said, "Caleb, it's me... Ian Curtis. I just wanted to say you're doing a damn fine job". The Mitchells set was angular but melodic, feisty and loud. I was very impressed with the newer material and need to follow Dennis Crommett's advice and get the new album today. Dennis has been raving about it for many months. I had fun during our set, but felt as though I was watching a train wreck in my own hands. Lots of mistakes, flubs, lemons, guffaws, stinkers... You can dock my pay, Henning. Our encore of V66 was a case study in why a band should rehearse. Ok, why I should rehearse. Anyway, thanks to all who made it out. You are all peaches. And cream. HENNING: Love playing at the Iron Horse. It feels like a real show, in which we are playing our music and people are listening to it. The week leading up to the show was a little stressful as we struggled to sell tickets, failed to get any radio spots, and inadvertantly had our local arts paper article printed a week late. But, the turn out was great. Thank you to everybody who came, you made it into a great night. Didn't feel like a Monday did it? I'm not sure how our performance was musically but I had a good connection with the crowd between songs. So, that was cool. Last night on the way home from our Webster Theatre show, I spoke with Tony about how different shows can change your perspective on being in a band. After the Iron Horse show (and the Space the week before) it felt like the world of music was a beautiful place.