Once again, I found myself fascinated with the building itself. This time I perused the records and album covers stuck to the walls and ceiling. "Got it, got it, need it, got it, hate it, love it etc."
I hung out for a while, chatting with the Motorama guys, who gave me some valuable tips regarding the ordeals involved in playing Vancouver BC. I checked out part of their set, as well as Trowaway Angles (that was the spelling on the grease board). Somewhere in between the two, I ducked out to my car for 40 winks.
Some people like to get all jacked up prior to a show. Not me. I like to be as relaxed as possible. If I'm bouncing off the walls, I have a tendency to blow my voice out in a hurry. Plus I need to " get my Joey on," so to speak. I find it necessary to take some time before a show to focus not only on warming up my voice and getting into costume, but to call up my inner Joey. I know that sounds like pretentious, new age, hippie, douche bag, Jon Lovitz ("AC-TING!!!!") bullshit, but its true. Anyway, on with the show.
We did this one without all the bells and whistles - no smoke, sirens, or Gabba sign. We didn't need 'em. The room the band plays in packed in the minute we started playing. Its one thing playing on a stage, above the crowd and safely out of reach. This, however, was a punk rock show at a punk rock bar. No stage, no sound check, no division between band and audience, and no bullshit.The crowd is literally right in your face, and the band is practically piled on top of one another. Hell - the entire set my right foot was wedged into the cinder block in front of Hoagie's bass drum (keeps it from sliding across the floor) and my left foot was wedged under the vocal monitor. Needless to say, moonwalking was out of the question.
Aside from a few fuckups, and Dan breaking a string, things went swimmingly. The raw energy thrown off by both the band and the crowd could have powered a Third World country. When you see members of the other bands rocking out right in front of you, along with the hardcore zanies and dreamy eyed girls, its more rewarding than any monetary compensation ever could be. That being said, we made more money than we expected, which didn't suck. As a matter of fact, we made more at this show than we did at certain higher profile shows that were attended by way more people. Hmmmm....
I'd like to thank everyone at Mad Dog's for another fabulous night of high volume lunacy. To all of of you reading this that are in bands I have one thing to say - PLAY MAD DOG'S!!!!! You'll thank me later.....