Reunion Shows!

This past weekend we played our first set of reunion shows. They all went really, really well. The bands were great, venues were cool, audiences were into it. Our first night was at the bootleg theater as benefit for Blood Red Lost Head Dead Flacon, a performance that my friends Lyn and Michael are working on. We played with El Haru Kuroi and Totimoshi. HK seduced the audience and then we pretty much violated them. Totimoshi played a great set. They keep on evolving and you can hear the Spanish/flamenco guitar influences in Tony's playing have really pushed the band to become much more melodic than even a few years ago.
I think our set went well especially being the first show. I had some antics on stage, cut my hand, almost tripped due to mics cables in my way and at one point even my guitar strap slipped off and I almost dropped the Jazzmaster. I thought everyone else played well but of course afterward people vented whatever mistakes they made, there were no catastrophes even though there very well could have been.
The next night at the BLVD. we played with Toward Distant Suns and Aztlan Underground. I'm friends with both bands so it was cool to have them on the bill. Toward Distant Suns really impressed. It was my first time seeing them and although I'd heard Frank and Bradley play together in Gort it was cool to hear them in a new band. They have some similarities to Gort but the addition of a bass player adds a groove that Gort doesn't have.
Aztlan had a rough start, Zo's guitar rig died and they had to borrow mine, it took a while for them to get rolling but once they did they played a pretty strategic set. They usually play a bit longer but due to it being a Sunday night and the tech problems it was cool to see they could still pull off their set even with some time constraints. It made me think of a Coltrane interview I read where he said that normally they played My Favorite Things for over 20 minutes but when they were at a festival and only had under 10 minutes left in the set the quartet still puled it off and Trane was wondering "so what have I been trying to do with all this extra time we take to play?"

Our set was strong and loud. It was better than the night before and the audience was into it, mostly the members from the other bands were really into it and of course that fueled us. Here are some pics from the show.
The BLVD.


We hung out and talked with the bands for quite a while after the show was over, in fact we probably hung out for longer than we played! Everyone was really cool and we hope to play more shows with them. Not bad for a Sunday night.

On Monday our show was at Echo Curio. We played with Devin Sarno, who at one point was an early member of Distorted Pony. He does an effected bass drone ambient noise that travels from one mood to another. I really liked his set, I knew of him from back when he was running WIN records, I think he put out my friend Lynn Johnston's album as well. Devin's set was only about 15 minutes but people were into it and I think it as a great way to get things going.
The Mormons were up next and if you don't know who they are, well, get a life. They play a sort of Devo-ish punk rock. Patrick the singer is a great frontman, he really performs and gets the audience to maintain focus, you just don't know what he is going to do next.
Our set was a monster! By far it was the best set of all the shows we played and the audience was really pushing us, it was our show and there was an anticipation in the place that let us know we had to deliver. At one point I was lost in the energy. I didn't have to think about what I was playing it was all very organic and we were very much one entity. Some songs for me were crushing, Go kart, Death in the Turnstile, Slow Leak, and God's List were rushes. The venue is tiny, so it was hot, sweaty and in your face. We were loud as hell and powerful! By the time we were done I was exhausted. The crowd was great and people had nothing but praise for us, well except for the few songs that we didn't play that they wanted to hear! Towards the end of the show I went into the audience. I wanted to see it for myself, 17 years after Distorted Pony broke up there they were again and it seemed surreal that this time I was playing in the band. I think I did my part in making as it intense and furious as I remember as a fan. I had a great time and I had people coming up to me and being very supportive. We put a lot of hard work into making it happen and we plan on doing a lot more. I'll add a quote that London recieved:
Al's Bar soundman Greg--
"children turn away---MOTHERDISTORTEDFUCKINGPONY ! pardon my french"

"their third (and last for right now) reunion show last night was the best thing I've seen in years...YEARS! so happy, so unbelievably tired...better than sex. better than drugs. better than sex on drugs."

What else can I say?

Luckily someone shot video of the show: