Last night, Saturday May 10th, we played at The Middle East Downstairs with The Pietasters and Westbound Train. It was our first time playing downstairs (3/4 of us have played their with previous bands, but this was Have Nots’ first time.) I remember going to shows there in high school, and thinking man, if I could ever be in a band that was playing that room, mission accomplished, I’d be set. It doesn’t seem quite so special anymore, but nonetheless, playing on that stage is always a rush, and it was a pretty fun night.
Before the show, we spent a couple hours in Allston with Nicole Tammaro (www.nicoletammaro.com), taking some pictures. We’ve been needing to get this done for a while now, so it’s a big weight off my chest. If we want to get this record out in a timely fashion, we need to have all our ducks in a row before we leave for tour in a month, and we made significant progress on Saturday. Still a lot of work to be done though.
The new T-shirts came in just in time, too! Matt thinks the graphic is way too small, I think it’s just a little small, Jon thinks it’s right on, and Jameson, I don’t know…he seemed content. Unfortunately just the white and black ones made it in time for the show (yellow ones should be in any day now.) Jon and I spent a couple hours folded and sorting and taping, getting them ready for speedy access in dimly lit rock clubs.
Load in for the show was at like six, so I had plenty of time to kill before our 9:30 set, but still, I always feel like there’s too much to do and not enough time when I get to the club. Set up my drums, organize/setup the merch, get the guest list together, say hi to the other bands, get drink/meal tickets, eat, drink a bunch of water, drink a beer, warm up with my practice pad/metronome, stretch, drink another beer and a bunch more water. It’s a lot to do in three hours. I don’t think I had enough time to stretch properly, and it affected my performance.
It was just one of those nights that I couldn’t get comfortable. Playing first is always a little bit awkward, but usually I don’t care. With this band, playing these songs, I can usually have a blast no matter where we are, how many people are watching and whether or not anyone is dancing. Last night, we were at a great club with a good sound system, there were a good couple hundred people there, and a decent number of kids were moving, and yet, I never really got in a groove, and as a result, couldn’t enjoy myself. It was like I was riding the beat, just barely hanging on, doing everything I could to avoid stopping in the middle of the song to get my shit together. But, I made it to the end of the set without f*cking up once. Jon’s vocals were a little quiet, and everyone played well. We were definitely tight, but I don’t think we had the same energy that’s been characteristic of our shows lately. I feel like we all looked a little bored up there. We need to work on being excited even when the crowd is kind of awkward.
Westbound Train was really good. The crowd was more into their set, but not by too much, they still seemed kind of dead. Our last show with them, upstairs in November, was definitely a little crazier. Their new songs sounded f*cking great though. They seem to be finding a sound that’s completely their own They’re already picking up a lot of steam, playing shows with Rancid, Less Than Jake and Goldfinger this summer, and I think this new record will bring them up to the next level.
It was the first time I’d heard The Pietasters, aside from a song on a Give Em The Boot comp, and they were a lot of fun. They’re last song went something like “la de da, I’ll have another one, drinking and driving is so much fun.” I appreciate their honesty.
We did pretty decent on merch, but not quite as well as I’d expected. There were probably about the same amount of people in attendance when we played as at our last Boston show (with Time Again on April 6th), but the all ages punk shows are definitely more fruitful for us, as opposed to the 18+ ska/reggae shows. The good news is I think we impressed some people who might be in a position to help us out significantly, so we’ll see what comes of that.
I had a good ole time at the Hooker St. after party. It was mostly Healey’s work friends, but I met some cool people, took a lot of shots for our youthful invincibility, and rocked out with Matt to the usual punk jams as the night was winding down. And I was responsible and crashed on the foldout couch rather than driving home at 4 am. It was actually quite comfortable.
I got an email from a legit sounding promoter who wants to have us in Rochester on June 23rd, so assuming that works out, we only have July 1st left to fill. Over a month to fill one date? Definitely doable. The Canadian guys also confirmed another show today. If they fill the two remaining holes over there, we’ll only have one day off in between a run of twenty something shows. With only three drivers, that’s a little daunting, but, I think we’re up for the challenge.
Like the pro that she is, Nicole gave us all four CD sets of the 600+ pictures we took at the show on Saturday. It was like a five hour turn around time. That is fucking absurd. So, I spent a lot of time today, in between a lovely mothers day dinner with the family, getting the new pictures online at webshots and www.myspace.com/havenotsboston. They came out really good, though it’s amazing how hard it is to get four dudes looking not-retarded at the same time. But, there seems to be at least one or two shots where we all look decent in every set we took. We’ll be dishing them out online over the next couple weeks, so as to create more action on the space. Building the web presence and all that.
We’re done playing shows, pretty much, until we leave for tour on June 20th, so that we can get ready to record. It’s relieving to have less on my plate, but now it’s hitting me that this is happening for real. We have one month to get all of our shit in order. We need to work out every little kink in every song we want record (which means at least 2-3 practices a week), get all the artwork and insert layout done, write a new bio, organize our Myspace friends, get a real website and a proper press kit together, pay for the van, fix all our equipment, ship some merch to Canada, book one or two more shows, get a tour flier made, promote the entire tour online and on the streets, and possibly start booking another tour, all before June 13th. When you throw the shitty economy and the outrageous gas prices in the mix, it’s enough to become overwhelmed. BUT, more than that, it’s exciting.
