Planet X at The Press Club with Mindphyx, E.M.B. and Shallow

After last weeks show and The Crossroads, I really had high hopes for this show. This was on a Thursday Night and those are frequently a drag, especially for the last band of the evening - but a lot of the downtown Sac clubs are tough in making sure you have a *draw* before they'll let you play on the weekend. I wanted everything to go well, and I wanted a strong kick-ass show like we'd been having at the Crossroads the last couple of times we'd been there. I'd had flyers up for weeks, as had both Mindphyx and Shallow.

We'd already had to do some shuffling with the lineup, originally Shallow was going to headline, but their bassist had to work early the next day (like so many others), plus they're from Marysville which is about an hour north of Sacramento. So a couple weeks before the show I'd reached out to Jay who booked in E.M.B to see if they could swap with Shallow, because I really wanted them on the show. If we couldn't switch 'em, they couldn't play the gig. I also tried to reach Mindphyx to see if they would swap. But I got the word back from Jay, "E.M.B. is going to headling". So everything was cool and the line-up was set. Shallow, followed by Mindphyx, then Planet X and EMB. It was even listed in the local paper that way.

However, when we got to the gig, E.M.B. was like - "Jay promised us we'd be playing at 10 o-clock". Oh jesus. Jay unfortunately had to leave and couldn't stay, and since I had booked in the other two bands - Shallow and Mindphyx - it fell to me to work this out. At first I thought I could talk Mindphyx into playing last, but when they arrived they weren't into it. However, they told me their set was only going to last for 30 mins, so I struck a deal and let them go third and we took the last slot. I was really really worried that doing that was a mistake and that we we're gonna get screwed like we have been so many times before. This was our 50th show, and I really wanted things to go well. Honestly, the whole situation stressed me out pretty badly. I hate that last-minute-changes crap.

So, Shallow took the stage first and kicked out the jams as usual. They usually have a few more people at their shows, but tonight was the night of the Nine-inch-nails show at the new Sacramento Valley Amphetheater - which is just a few minutes from Marysville, so they didn't have their usual crowd. Even my own step-son, Nathan had gone to the NIN show. Still, they had 12 people or so and that was cool as the first band.

E.M.B. took the stage second - and even though they came off with a bit a 'tude at first I found myself enjoying the Papa-Roach-ish rock. It seems that their from Vacaville, (which is the same city P-Roach is from, which is about an hour west of Sacramento - and they'd gone to school with the guys from P-Roach). They weren't bad at all, and their drummer was definately on it. We had a tiny bit of stress about when they were going to finish their set, but they finished exactly when they should and with a lot of panache at that. Good work fellas. I dug it.

Up next were my homies in Mindphyx. These guys definately break the rules when it comes to how to play Hard Rock. Two of them - Ian the guitarist and Bob the bassist have been playing together for nearly a decade. They used to be members of a local speedmetal band called "Forensic", but Mindphyx definately focuses more on the funk. With Chris on the drums and Brandon on vocals/effects these guys have to be seen to be believed. They venture a bit into some areas covered by Korn or the Deftones, but they are way sicker.

Finally came our turn, and we threw everything including the kitchen sick at 'em. All the guys from E.M.B. we're still there, which was cool, most of the guys from Shallow and all of Mindphyx. We partied and moshed for the next couple hours and burned that mutha down. For a Thursday night it was only an average turn-out, but we certainly had a good time. A lot of my friends from the downtown area were there, like Rodg and Brian from the Brian Ballentine group, and Mike "Dobin" from Capital Garage. Even Nathan, who was now back from NIN saw the last 45mins of our set. Overall, we performed well - in fact, I think it might have been one of our best shows so far. When we were done, we exchanged numbers with all the other bands so that we can hook up some gigs in the future - even E.M.B., who were basically nice guys. They just didn't want to get screwed over, like we were the first time at the Smoke Shop. Certainly we could understand that, but they hung out for our show and that was cool.

But wait it gets better...running the sound that night was my new pal Gwamba, from the really popular local band - the Okra Pickles. He liked us. He liked us a lot. Like so many people, he had a copy of our CD, but our CD really doesn't do justice to our live show. He liked us so much, he asked us to open for them at their CD Realease party on August 26th with Los Ostros.

Oh Yah - man... S.C.O.R.E.

I've seen several Okra Pickles shows and they absolutely pack the house in Sacto. We're doing fine in Woodland, but it's still a struggle in Sac. Finally, somebody in this town will actually get to see us. We've been working toward this for nearly a year and finally it's starting to come together. Now that's what I call a productive gig.

Add your comments on this starlog entry

Next | Previous .

.