Here's the rundown of last weekend's shows:
Thursday: Vault Video Stillwater with Mayola
Phil and I rode together and talked about how Jesus interacted in 3 ways with people: He moved toward people, away from people, and against people. And given the fact that we must be like Jesus, we should do the same thing with people at the appropriate times. There's the summary. We got to Stillwater and my parents were there: it meant a lot to me for my dad to be there- he hasn't seen me play since I was in euromart in high school. I have no clue how we packed Matt's Honda Element with all our gear (we don't skimp on using big gear), but seeing as how he does that regularly for the Flaming Lips, I guess it's to be expected. Good job, Matt, as usual. The show went well, I got to meet some awesome OSU peeps (a few of which actually followed us back to Norman for a couple of the other shows for the weekend). Mayola blew me away with their energy and overall tightness. I feel like they propelled our energy for the next three shows.
Friday: Island Party (BYX) on OU campus' Walker/Adams Mall with Skillet
(photos coming...)
This show was cool because it was in the middle of the dorms I lived in 2 years ago. We got up (I woke up at 2:30 pm because we didn't get back until 3:30 am from Stillwater), ran to soundcheck (supposedly at 3:30 pm- ended up being 5:00 pm), played our set at 6, grabbed a hotdog (sounded good at the time), pounded two more redbulls, packed the Element again (started to get old after the third time), and sped off to The Conservatory in OKC to meet up with the Chainsaw Kittens.
Friday again: Opening for Chainsaw Kittens at the Conservatory in OKC
We got there in time to watch them sound checking (it was the best I've ever heard the Conservatory sound), and it was cool because you could tell these guys had been around a long time (the Kittens formed in 1989- I was 3 years old) and had toured with some big bands (such as the Smashing Pumpkins). Tyson, the lead singer of the Kittens, flew in from Shanghai to do the reunion show at the Norman Music Festival (this show at the Conservatory was a 'secret' show so the press wouldn't get mad that the Festival wasn't the actual first show in 8 years of not playing together).
So we went on at 11:20 pm to open for Chainsaw Kittens, and somehow, maybe with a little help from coffee, redbull and beer (we each have our weapon of choice), we ended up playing the best Neighborhood show ever- at least that was the our consensus as a band. We heard feedback from people that lined up with our confidence, that over the three shows we'd played so far we had become tighter and tighter while increasing in our energy and rockshow-chaoticness. It was timely that it happened to be the night we played with the Chainsaw Kittens. As we played a new song called 'What? Hey!', a heavy, almost White Stripes-ey sounding song, I have a break where I go to my amp and use the feedback as an effect. As I was doing this, I looked down on the ground and a penny was perfectly situated on the ground- sometimes, at very intense, special moments, the Lord will somehow have a penny placed on the ground or somewhere so I can see it at a perfect time... this, needless to say, was one of those perfect times. I forgot to pick it up as we set-changed (we have to throw our gear off the stage so fast- it's one of the most intense feelings to pack up everything you own in a couple minutes without breaking or losing track of at least one or two things), but sure enough, at the very end of the night, it was still sitting there on the stage. So I grabbed it. I got to drive home alone (bassist got a ride with the girlfriend), and it was perfect. Finally I had a moment to thank the Lord for such a perfect series of shows, and I felt His hand heavy on me.
Saturday: Norman Music Festival, Downtown Main Street with the Chainsaw Kittens and Polyphonic Spree
(photos coming...)
Okay, this is the nuts-est of the 4 shows we did those three days. I'm gonna leave a ton of crap out, but hopefully you'll get the point from the few things I will say.
Again, I got home around 3:30 am from OKC, walking on clouds, and I woke up Saturday at 11:30 am, more sore than I was back in 9th grade two-a-days for High School football (yeah, I really did play). I heard we were supposed to set up around 1:45 (our slot was from 2pm to 3pm), so I picked up Phil and ran down to Main street. I almost crapped my pants when I saw the size of the stage- I thought Norman was gonna fail- but they legitimately set up a really awesome stage and shut down a huge chunk of downtown for the festival- thousands of people ended up showing. Even though they ignored our stageplot and had us set up with Matt in the back instead of to the side- which feels super-weird because we NEVER set up that way.... well, maybe that pissed us off a little and gave us some adrenaline to help us pull through our soreness.. yeah that probably actually helped. Anyway, we played with an even larger amount of intensity for this set, and it felt great to me, because there were all these people that started flocking out of store-fronts and side streets and crammed up to the front- I even saw a few people dancing on the rooftops of the lofts on Main Street. My view there was the best of all these shows- the day was PERFECT, and despite my awesome deep-v-neck/ trucker sunburn, it was the most enjoyable weather I'd experienced all Spring.
These next details are short to save you from thinking I'm a toolbag that just wants to talk about how awesome I am:
Tyson (Chainsaw Kittens lead singer) sat on the couch with us for our press photos and told reporters he wanted to go on the record as saying, "The Neigborhood is my favorite band in the whole world." Then he wore a Neighborhood shirt as he performed in front of all the people and plugged us about 5 different times.
Okay, that's the short version. believe it or not.
Love you, glad I got this out of my system.
blake.
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