My new band the Mud Falcons played its first gig on Saturday night, and the gig went really well. I'm really glad they did, as there are nights when I question why I still go out and play gigs. Saturday night was most certainly not one of those.
Don't get me wrong - I always love playing, and I plan to play music as long as I'm physically able. It's the other stuff that gets in the way, and my tolerance for the other stuff has dropped over the years. Sitting in bars for hours on end, crappy food, very little sleep, vans with bench seats that always cause a metal pole to lodge itself in a very uncomfortable place, the mystery band who was not on the website/e-mail from the promoter/newspaper ad but is somehow on the bill nevertheless, driving for 9-1/2 hours only to find the club has no electricity and your gas won't even be covered, being combined in very close quarters with the same people for days at a stretch, ridiculously hirsute male non-promoters in 70's mesh tank tops who can't even provide a functioning PA, bars who don't even give you a buck off their already overpriced drinks, unreasonable bands on the bill - it can all combine to wear you down - and I was most certainly worn down by the end of 2010. My social life was non-existent, my wallet was empty, and I was wondering just exactly what I had to show for it.
That's not to say I didn't have fun on the road - in fact, I usually did. I met a lot of great people that never would have figured into my life otherwise, and there is something exciting about taking your band somewhere where either (1) you're not a known quantity and you might just blow some minds or (2) going back to a town where people know you and are happy to see you. I did, however, reach the point where the cons outweighed the pros.
So, when we started the Mud Falcons, we decided not to tour at all for the first six months of gigging. We'd play locally, and at places that were a very short distance away, and possibly re-evaluate things down the road.
Tritone was the first gig, and while, sure, things were a bit sloppy, everything felt really good. All the things I was sick of handling weren't a factor. No inter-band drama, no 11-hour drive to the show, no payment in cold Tater Tots. We played great and the crowd really dug us. It also helped that we had that sweet middle slot on the bill, and that the other bands (Blessed Muthas and the Tulanes) are cool, down-to-earth folks.
So, we're off to a good start, and our next gig will be... a house party in West Philly? As Steve (Mud Falcons drummer) said, it must be 1985 again.
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