Cory and I have been bumming around southern CA for a couple days, and we played last night with Derek at the Ventura underground. I told Cory as we drove to the gig that I was pretty excited; with the addition of the Ventura songs, I was finally feeling like I had a set of playable echoes music that would sound good acoustic.
It seemed to work, I started the night with almost an hour of songs from nickel, Be A Ska Rat, Ventura, a couple other new things, and Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten.” It felt good, and the crowd seemed to have a good time through it. I haven’t felt this good about a set since I really wrecked someplace with Scott (I’d have to look at the show archive on howieandscott.com to tell you when that was). Hopefully I’ll make the time to play more, buoyed by last night’s experience.
Cory and I overlapped, playing Sally Ride’s “Headbone,” Shacker’s “Fully OK,” and Ventura‘s “Coast & Plains” together. He followed it with a solid group of Beach-Puppy/Axeface songs. Low-heat microphones meant that he was soft, and the audience responded with a consistent hush and increased attendance to songs like “Nature vs. Nurture” and “Where Did I Go Wrong?”
Derek slayed. A mix of stuff from D-Rockets, The Ashtray Life, and even a Return song (“You’ve grown up like me / between the desert and the sea…”). I’m the first to say that the Return is a musical force to be reckoned with, but it’s still a shame that Derk probably doesn’t have more time to spend in an acoustic setting. I was thoroughly in to his set, sitting back and soaking it in.
We’ve made some new friends this weekend, and had a rad night of music and good times. I’m really happy that MFR can host a night of our music with three different artists and three twisty twists on the acoustic sound. -h