November 24, 2003 - TT The Bears - Cambridge, MA - International Pop Overthrow
Brian says: Every band loves to feel like they have a niche. Then you know, if you're playing out of town, what kind of audience you should target in your promotional efforts IN SFTD, we started really, really, really small--satisfied with living rooms, We thought maybe the folky crowd would like us? But, oh--punks such as Tony and I can't resist the occasional noisy moment. We enjoy alienating folkies. But the pop scene......aahhh....fits like a glove. Feels like a hot tub. Pop. Like XTC said in 1978, "This Is Pop". Pop is short for popular, but none of these bands are popular. Much like most "fans' of things are not literal fanatics. I am fanatical about popular music. False. I am a pop fan. True. Just look at Ning and mine fave songs. Hooks, harmonies, big choruses, and not at all offensive or dangerous. It's a nice place to inhabit. It's a niche, and On November 23, 2003, after 2 years 50-something School for the dead gigs we staked our claim in the national pop scene. Let's run with it and do the Chicago or Hollywood one next year. I once saw a picture of Micky Dolenz at the Hollywood one, sitting at the bar reading a book. Like "yeah, you all idolize me, but hey-can't I get some reading done?" Maybe he was just reading the program. Give him a break. And there's my IPO gig diary. The rest I don't have much to say about. Henning says: "Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop." What's that sound? The International Pop Overthrow was delightful. Brian, Tony, and I arrived in good time and found a parking spot directly in front of the door to T.T.s. It was our own private portable green room. The Bear was pretty crowded when we came in from the cold. And what? Hey, yeah!! It's smoke free now!! (One of the last times I was there was for the Of Montreal show which was so horrible smoky, I couldn't stand it.) I always thought of T.T.'s as cold, uncomfortable, loud, and smoke. Well, they've changed. It been redecorated and cleaned up. The back room was warm and comfortable instead of the old graffiti covered cold shed feeling that it used to have. It was still loud though. In fact, they removed the drop ceiling in the performance area so there is even more echo. Sheesh. The room was full of pop music fans, which was great. We met the folks in charge and they were incredibly accommodating. Andrea Kremer introduced herself and asked us a few times if there was anything we needed. David Bash was very nice and easy to talk to and he seemed to be beaming in the room of pop music. I don't remember the name of the woman working the merchandise table but she also was exceptionally nice. All the pleasantness was a far cry from many past Cambridge experiences I had had as a musician. We were one of many bands, each playing a twenty minute set. The other bands were a lot harder and more rocking than I had expected. They were power pop, but there was a lot of rock thrown in there as well. Hard hitting drummers, lots of guitar leads. But also lots of pretty harmonies and catchy hooks. I was in the back room opening the guitar cases to let the instruments warm up when Max came in and told me that my family was there. This was a surprise to me, I certainly didn't expect to see them at 10:30 on a Sunday night. But there were my parents, both my brothers and an old friend of theirs named Ned. My mom had brought a little baggy of ear plugs which was great because I had forgotten mine (which is pretty rare.) Eventually it was our turn to take the stage. We had put a lot of thought into our six song set. Which songs to leave off, which songs to leave off. It was tough. Eventually, this is how we did it: Back To School, One Lady Dancing, Something's Taking Over, Thug, and Omnivore. It was tough to hear up there and I knew we were too loud but there was little we could do about it at that point. It was ok, though. People were smiling and singing along and by the end of our set, everyone in the room was watching and listening, even the people over by the bar. Yee. After our set a bunch of people bought our stuff from the merchandise table. It was non-paying gig so it was nice to make up some gas money that way. We are now down to only two robot shirts. They are the last of a breed and we're not making more of that design, so I might even just hold onto them myself. I don't know. Anyway, look for new shirts soon. Tony and I stuck around for Fooled By April, who I had shared a stage with before, I believe, I think at T.T.s. Ray Needs was there and we talked a bit to him. On the ride home we stopped at the Mass Pike dream factory and I got some French Fires. Tour. Max Says: Boston Rocks! Or so they tell me. I've had very few good gigs in Boston, and I've found that mostly to be because Boston does indeed rock. We twee pop bands from out in Western Mass. always seem to get drowned out, ignored, thought of as 'inbred second cousin' to the loud and muscular Boston bands. Our show at TT the Bears saw us on the bill with other like-minded pop bands, though I think our set was more unique than the others, if just as loud. Loud loud loud loud, can't you turn us down? The soundman, already tired and cranky from a week's worth of white boy pop bands opted to turn everything up three notches, so that by the time Omnivore kicked in we were, in the words of one observer who knows us well, "painful". That being said, I think it was one of our better shows and I love the occasional all-out set of faster songs. We came in with a chip on our shoulder and we came away no longer twee. We twocked. Tony Says: I had Hannah to myself all that day and didn't end up eating much dinner, yet I thoughtlessly downed an entire can of Coke (something I never do) during and after dinner until Thea the babysitter arrived. Couple that with a quease-making backseat trip down the wavy highways of 91 and 90 in Henny's bouncy car and by Worcester, I was nauseous. Luckily, I had Henning, king of sour stomach-itis there to counsel me on remedies. So I ingested pita bread, dry turkey and water courtesy of Rest Stop Heaven and it soaked up the sugar and phosphoric acid swimming in me quease-belly so that by Framingham, I was a new man. Been to TT's plenty in my day and this was the best experience ever. The smoke-free atmosphere was delightful. One breathes easier, sees more clearer, doesn't have to escape every half-hour to recover and I swear singers sing better and people are friendlier and happier to be in a bar. Of course the IPO festival people were friendly just in general and were eager to hear our set. Afterwards, they fervently lauded us and Henning's pile of CDs and T-shorts were depleted in exchange for an envelope of cash. Our set was brief, tuneful and screamingly loud. But that was in keeping with the festival. We saw six other bands and they all resembled each other greatly in compositions, sound and style. That sound was the heavy rock side of power-pop, much like The Waking Hours, who you probably don't know, or Cheap Trick circa Budokan, who you probably are familiar with. And I imagine that's just the kind of thing an IPO audience would expect, look forward to and savor. (Indeed, The Waking Hours are the knights of IPO L.A.) The volume and lack of dynamics wore on us fogeys from Western Mass. but it was a good sampler of bands if that's your thing. I still love my Big Star and The Raspberries or even Cheap Trick but I'm more inclined to thrown on Paul Simon or The Lovin' Spoonful for my melodic pop rock fix these days. Thanks again to the festival folks. Such a nice bunch, and they genuinely liked us, makin' me hanker to return. Most of what I remember about last night's dream involved scenes that took place in the UMass campus center and an icy parking lot ouside a grocery store but a fuzzy episode involved SFTD riding in superstar KEN MAIURI's limo, which had a luxurious backseat outfitted with two keyboards on the two walls, in case Ken and a pal wanted to jam! Will Ken become Elton John all of a sudden? Speaking of K.M., he'll be joining us at The Iron Horse next week AND is taking part in the Sitting Next TO Brian/ Bourgeois Heroes/ Parents extravaganza the following week. As Sam Cooke once sang, "Ain't that good news? Man, ain't that good news?"	Back To School One Lady Dancing Something's Taking Over Thug Photobooth Curtain Omnivore Activity Pages