Sunday, February 17, 2008

Memories from the Alibi (Saturday - Feb 16, 2008)


Wow! What a great time. Sitting behind the drums allows me to watch the evening's events unfold from a prime location. I watch Billy and Jason as they rollick through our songs and I survey the smiling, grinning and sometimes buzzed faces of the crowd. Tonight was great for crowd watching. The girl in the Transformers shirt (who nearly got in a fight with my girlfriend as she knocked her onto the stage) was about as insane as they come at a Billy Midnight show. She was 100% incoherent and took the mic between songs to announce that she "Warntsss tooooo rockhkh!" Throughout the 10+ years that we've toured the dive bars of San Diego we've shared the stage with some really peculiar folks. She's at the top of this list. BTW: There was no fight between Sarah and this girl who people started calling "Jenna." However, if there was, Sarah would have won the match - no contest. Dude, seeing your girlfriend win in a cat fight must be so rad!

My favorite part of the evening was performing our new stuff. We spent nearly 2 hours yesterday reworking "Welcome To Gemini" and it was exhilarating to pull it off almost flawlessly in front of a live audience. The 80s disco-nova feel of the song feels fresh in the midst of our other songs. Jason's pulsing bassline locks so nicely with the drums. I can't wait refine this song in the coming months. We're already talking about recording our next CD and this will be one of my favorites on it. Also, "Blow My Mind" was a blast. Finally, a song that calls for a post-punky tom tom beat. Billy's Kinksesque riffage and guitar solo were off the hook. When he first played this number in front of Jason and I last week on an acoustic guitar we immediately knew it was going to be a new favorite.

I'm glad Benny (guitarist from The Barnacles) got to join us for the blistering end of the show. The Spiders/U.S. of Mongolia was raucous and demonic! I'm glad my bandmates allow me to live out my Ronnie James Dio fantasies from time to time. Thanks to all of the those in the crowd who sang along with the "Are you the one who controls the spider" chant. That was an all-time high for me in the realm of crowd participation. I can imagine playing stadiums in Japan someday and hearing thousands of rabid fans exchanging a call and response with me on this song. It would be like "I Want You to Want Me" where you can hear the audience replying "crying, crying, crying." I can imagine the translation from English to Japanese might create some curious meaning for the song. Japan will ROCK!

Until then, we love playing the Alibi. The energy's always good. The folks treat us well. Looks like there's another show in the works for June. Hope we see ya'll at the next one.

2:25 a.m. Time for some shut eye.

Bobby

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey mr. shaddox. could you do me a favor and tell your brother that he is now one of my favorite song writers? somewhere below george harrison and above paul mccartney. although i don't really think very highly of mccartney, but don't tell him that. how about just below kurt cobain. that's a good place for him. not far below either. thanks.

-colcifer

Mr. Shaddox said...

Colcifer,

I forward this info to him. I'm still awaiting his response. I think he'll be super stoked to hear this.

-mr. shaddox

Anonymous said...

really? thanks. i'm looking forward to hearing his response being that i'm a 14 year old kid he's never met. i love your guys' cd though. i've been playing it more or less nonstop.