The Coathangers @ Fitzgeralds (htown) + Red 7, 7/25/14 & 7/26/14

Hard to find a starting point on this one....just got done seeing The Coathangers at Red 7.  The Austin show was fine, there was nothing wrong with it, but I had a weirdly giddy sense of self-verification or something, because the Houston show was way better, and I had a feeling ahead of time that it was just a good idea to go see them in Houston, and that that was one of the reasons.  It was perfect, because I got to see and actually chill with my friends in Houston, C Reed and Fernando and it was like something fun was going on that night.  Fernando made a good point about the anonymity of Houston, how sometimes thats nice.  He made the point that its cool to be a part of something where its like you are plugged in to people, like more how Austin is, and like how its kinda a boring life like you go to work and then you go home and then you go to bed, but he made a really good point that sometimes that's nice too.  I missed White Fang both shows, the first time because we couldnt get band practice together until 4:30 PM, so i didnt leave Austin until after that, and then it turned out to be an early show ("doors at 8?  does that mean these bands will play at 10?" why are only 2 bands listed? ... then the 2nd time I just got off work at like midnite and went pretty much straight down there.  It sucked because the drinkin' vibe on the back stoop at work was really nice, a really good vibe, i just stayed for 1 quick small (16oz) beer.  It was kinda hilarious to miss them that way, like it kinda sucked, that was half the reason i wanted to go to the show in Houston, but anyways, I just saw both their bands, and we listened to some of their cool old merch that I picked up on the drive back to Austin.

So yeah, they Houston show for Coathangers was way better.  The main thing I would say was better was just the vibe.  We got to that show right before the start of their set and you could just tell they had been drankin' and were loose and just in a good mood.  Then the energy of the crowd turend out to be great, there were some older fans there, but also there was like a critical mass of people in their early 20s, and you could really feel the excitement of that crowd in the mosh pit.  There was some pretty good moshing in there.  It was the right energy, it made it fun.      

The vibe of the crowd for sure felt like the main difference. also Austin it was outdoors, hot, and there was another band that was playing, which is always shitty.  The sound was better in Austin, I will give it that.  No moshing, it just seemed like ppl were bobbing their heads but like they were fuckin me up when i was trying to bob my head.  Also I was hung over as shit all day today, I wonder if the band was the same way.  Anyways I dont really feel about writing it, theres not much to say, it was still a good show, its just i felt like their je ne sais quoi that makes me like them was a lot more present at the houston show.  where the fun is

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2013 top ten pt. 2 - 6 - 10

so these arent really ordered at all, other than to say that Cyclops Reap was my favorite record of the year. Heres the other 5.

6. The Growlers / The Coathangers live. I saw these 2 shows pretty close to each other, like 2 weeks apart. The Growlers were headlining a Burger Records tour. This was just the year of west coast music for me I guess. Ive kinda been feeling the tide bring me in that direction for like 2 years, after being a lot into East Coast bands. I still think that shit is cool....Guerilla Toss, etcetc i wont even attempt to name bands, but the DIY circuit over there is probably the most alive and well of anywhere as far as being a circuit. From Toronto and Montreal and Chicago to New York and down the east coast. The Growlers really got the crowd into it. Their music is hypnotic, but it seemed they were also trying to hypnotize the crowd. It was their last show of tour and they said something from stage about wanting to hang out, but I had to dance with the one that brought me. Oh it was pouring rain. Joey gave me an extra ticket. It was really fun going out with him, it reminded me of being on tour some. I like not being the lead guy, like just walking. He is a credible dude as far as having a beard and misfits tattoo as far as if I'm walking in a group with him I feel impervious against random attack or muggings. Im sure some Zetas could take us down, but I try and stay away from anywhere that might happen. Anyways, they were sick. I saw The Coathangers later, which I wrote about at the time (fairly recently). I suspect someone in the Growlers and someone in the Coathangers are in love, but its a pretty vague hunch. They have a lot of photos online where they are wearing eachothers shirts and the person wearing the shirt always looks like they are shrugging like "i know its crazy right, we fell in love with each other". --but im probably reading into something thats not there. Yeah The Coathangers were good in a way that made me want to root for them. They used to be a 4 piece and now they are a 3 piece. They still sounded tight to me making the adjustment on some songs, like as in instrumentalists were having to work too hard, but they just have this survivor aura, and the sound was mellowing out on some songs already for sure, like "aahh, thats it". One track that sounded like the Delta 5 I would say that was true of. I think the 4th chick from that band might have felt like she was the worst musician out of the bunch (<---total speculation) but even tho she was the ditziest one, she was probably super smart. I heard she got married, so good for her. Maybe the "smart" move. Its weird what makes bands tick or what makes bands good. Personality combos that sparkle together. I do reserve the right to say something negative about this bands early career if i ever get drunk enough to be so tactless and unpromoterly, but i guess if you believe in yourself that you should just stick to it, then finding out what you turn into becomes its own reward, which is kinda the same no matter who you are. At the end of the day, the exasperated crush proclaimed "the craziest thing about these chicks is, you might not guess it, but they are like the most solid dudes ever."

7. Spray Paint, the band. -- This band is really writing the book of underground rock history and I completely admire them. They just have always been so into it and now they really know what they are doing. You can tell from what they are doing --- get back from tour do a show at beerland, do another beerland show 2 weeks later, then 4 weeks later play the biggest local show of the summer at hotel vegas, totally off their own draw, then go on tour, record at the right time, and then also they have written a shit ton of music, because they released 2 full LPs on Vinyl this year. Stoke the flames on a steady drumbeat of press. I mean this shit is old shit for them by now, all they have done is throw rock shows since they were at least in college and there have always been people who go to their shows consistently at least since the Tuxedo Killers were on the cover of the Chronicle with bags over their heads, which was like 10 years ago practically. In terms of how to promote your own band, when you should take a show and when you should put your own bill together, I feel like I just try and copy these guys. Their band really nails it on 1) having a good concept for what sound they are going for, 2) writing insanely good music, 3) doing their own promotional scheme and 4) hustling hard. I wish these guys continued success. Hope I dont bug you too much fellas!! I act like an idiot around this band because they get me so pumped up it makes me feel super familiar, but I try to notice that about myself and act somewhat cool.

8. The SXSW party at Julian's parents house -- This show was megalooney and the only show i did over sxsw this year, on account of the "I have to work to save up money so i can be a musician" stage of musician-logic. This show was retarded and went from about 9 PM - 4:15 AM. The show was still going there were like 15 guests left who needed to pass out and everyone was in a state of half passing out. Bubbly Mommy Gun played last. This was supposed to be a day show, so it basically started 9 hours late, and it was cancelled for part of the day and then "back on". At that point it was being run on maybe the tiniest margin of error that I have ever run a show on, which I kinda decided half way thru was gonna be the point, or at least it turned out that way. I basically ran it by being able to anticipate the scene -- when Julian's parents were gonna cut us off from doing something, when the neighbors were gonna come by and yell at us, bands acting a certain way. Its not that hard if youve done it a million times ---its more like being at a dinner party at my grandparents how I know that its time my grandmother comes over and tells everyone they have to get seconds -- It was really fun for me. The level of talent was thru the roof, and running that back to back made everyone feel comfortable. At first it seemed like people didnt know what was going on like they were at a sham party at a sham house. Was it safe here? Is this a Scarface mansion? I actually heard 2 separate references to Scarface. Then it kinda turned into a covered atmosphere, like a professional atmosphere, like the room seemed non-nefarious but clear and empty for bullshitting, but i didnt really hear anyone bullshitting -- basically people were just tired from the whole week and were resting up. And it just happened that there was this crazy show going on. Some guy did a cannonball from the hottub to the pool and it had the potential energy of shattering a pane of glass. Im looking forward to the reprise this year, its kinda gonna be a secret, but I think it will be a more fun vibe from the beginning because we will have some return guests who get the drill better.

9. Rooommates -- my roommates were a big part of my life this year. I got to live with Julian, Paloma, Shelby, Melissa, Cole, Peter, and Colin. The changing of roommates has been one major way I mark time-periods in my life. I have fond memories of them all, and I learned a shit ton from all of them, mainly just to hear their different perspectives. In addition, some of these folks made it into the vaunted category of "someone who was there for me at a time when i needed it" and thats something that's going on their permanent records, at least in my book!!

10. Death of Lou Reed -- Lou Reed died close to my birthday. I spent a lot of time with his music right after that, and did a lot of reflection. I ventured into Tai Chi Intro videos on Youtube. I listened to a lot of velvet underground off Youtube that I had never heard before, different concerts etc. Not much I could say about this as sucinct as some of the stuff I read or that Lou Reed contributed, but I recommend everyone check out his life's work.

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Trying not to sound like a ponce // The Coathangers

So I went to see the Coathangers and Guitar Wolf. Lately Ive been asking myself "hey wheres the passion?" Ive kinda had this feeling that I know it was in there somewhere, but I didnt really know what the deal was it seemed like it had been a while since Ive seen it. Well, I'll tell you, after hanging out with Youthbitch, I kinda realized that it was OK to get all excited about certain things, like when youve been listening to a band for a year and you think they are awesome and then they are spending the night on your floor! sick!! it feels nice to feel good in a way where its like the new day actually brought something that expresses the vastness of life rather than the same old same old.
So yeah, I didnt even know there was a Coathangers show today until this morning I saw it online they posted something that they were playing with Guitar Wolf who Chris had mentioned the night before he was thinking about hitting up but he didnt say anything the Coathangers playing. I got really psyched. Also, after seeing the Growlers I had a really good recording session, but today I think was pretty much crap (I donno ill have to go back and check) and so I wanted to go out and see a really good band in case that magically helped me record better the next day from being closer to the pumped up energy. But yeah, seeing The Coathangers imagine like this new version of me is psyched to take the trip and see an awesome band and that part of me wants to turn every time i see an awesome band into people crashing on my couch, but then sub in really hot girls for the band, and that kinda changes how it goes. I definitely wanted to hold on til the end of the night and find my way back to my buddy's house where they are crashing, but something in me felt like it was a bit dicey. Or dicey is not the words, but it didnt seem like a probable thing that would probably happen where my life was different than the same old same old in that particular way on that night. It seemed like it was plausible but might be a little bit of a stretch. Which leads me to the question Im still not able to answer, which was if the only thing that kept it from being a reality was my own skiddishness. I knew the baseline was I would see a kickass show and try and talk to them or something. Chris ended up not making it to the show, so I was there by myself, so my loitering skills were left a pretty thin margin of error. There were some cool dudes there and they were so nice to me like bringing me into conversation and stuff, but eventually the topic turned to shows and booking and shit and I fear I started to sound like a ponce. Its really hard to sound cool around girls sometimes, especially ones that get lots of attention. During their set some dude brought them beers or like reached out his hand or something and then like involentarily kissed it in a weird dog slobbery kind of way. The whole thing was like slow motion trainwreck style. So then you are trying to go talk to a girl after seeing some other dude do this shit which you know happens to them every night and it just seems like a minefield, you know, like love is a battlefield, because the enemy is within all of us in that way as far as brain short circuiting, and it seems like to get anywhere I would have to pitch like the equivelant for me of 9 shutout innings (improbible). I think there is this weird thing left over from childhood, awkwardness about being like the 4th person walk up to a group of kids and say like "hey can I play?" But yeah while talking with these cool dudes, if I hadnt started talking like a ponce, which is to say talking about boring shit like what my bands are doing and how great everything is, they would have probably kept just talking to me forever and that is a major cool guy attribute, and had i been able to do that I probably would have gotten a chance to talk to the girl in the band i wanted to talk to in a natural conversational way, not in a dog slobbery way, but too bad i fucked up / pussed out and left. But it was still a kickass show, and I found out they are dropping a record in March so Ill bet theres a good chance they are back to promote it. And furthermore talking with those dudes now we might end up playing a show with them who knows, so it would be cool to play with some cool guys, id definitely love to set that show up so it wasnt all for naught i guess.
One song they played during their set I saw online afterwards called Trailorpark Boneyard. I was watching it on the internet after the show and I heard the lyrics and they made me really made me sad. Great song, i like wanderlusty type stuff, and like driving thru the desert rock, and the low chord comes at a really good time. I think the second verse is really sad. And Im trying to figure out, is the 3rd verse, like she comes back thru a town and then some guy she was with last time wants to get with her but then her reality has become like rejecting all these dudes from different places, so now shes trapped in this cycle where theres always these dudes with like hurt feelings because theyre not gonna get laid again and people are always getting mad at her when she hasnt done anything thats her fault? Maybe that would be a good question to ask her, if I get a chance.
Oh Sike, i get it, its really about she went back to try and get with this one particular dude, but the relationship didnt work out, and its about the dichotomy of how she cant be with someone while living nomadically, but that you go back and it doesnt necessarily work out. So its kinda frustrated in that way I guess, but I think its cool that she's still searching for the true love, thats a very idealistic thing to do. Solid!
EDIT: actually after listening again, i have no fuckin clue what its about but im pretty sure my theories make no sense. And if i get a chance to talk to her im gonna ask her how tall she is and if she played basketball.

DOUBLE EDIT, 3/30/14:  Ok i think i finally get this song, its about liking a dude in a band, and then at the end "where you go ill go, what you see ill see" refers to her going out there and being in a band to get that perspective the dude she likes has, so she is close to him in that way, but its kinda frustrating because really she wanted to be with the dude, and its not quite the same.  Its kinda like when the drummer from Cherry Glazarr put out an open invite to get in the hot tub, but i was stoned and just didnt say anything or take her up on it, and then she got back from the hot tub, looking refreshed but kinda bummed because the moment had already passed and i was like "oh yeah, hot tub" and then i just went into the hot tub then, but obv it was too late to hot tub with her which would have been sweet.  But the hot tub was still bad ass, i was just cashed on the night at that point, although next year, ill wait until more ppl leave before hitting the weed, so i can still interact socially gracefully in case something like that happens again.  

THE COATHANGERS:

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