It's hard to beat a show on a pretty day. Nice little false spring before the cold, rainy miasma of this week. A big thank you to everyone who came out and, at worst, applauded with great politeness. The food was good, the beer was cold, and we always love playing at Boggs. We had some new billmates this time, Babosa and Static Dogs. Babosa did wonderful with some really interesting covers and originals. They have a great soul-influenced sound, and as a bass player, I always love seeing a guitarist that doesn't play with a pick. Their vocalist was great and had a nice, raspy voice, so the cover of “Piece of My Heart” worked well. Static Dogs put on a great show too. They're a cool, krautrock-influenced, proggy, hard rock band with a slight touch of disco at the end. All excellent musicians and nice guys, and they've got a new song out, “Going Through The Motions,” that everyone should listen to. We also had ourselves a big boy photoshoot before the gig, so a huge thank you to Dan and Mel for bearing with us as we frolicked and refused to look at the camera. Some pictures from that should be coming down the pipeline
As for our set. We played Huffin' Sunshine, Apocalypse Blues>Waiting and Hoping and Knowing, Atlas, Every Moment, and ended with Blood on my Sandals. Within the band we are always arguing about how we should perform: do we lean more into singles and emphasize the songs themselves or do we go toward our “roots” and do more improvisation live? This show we decided to play a decent number of songs and jam only on Apocalypse Blues>Waiting and Hoping and Knowing because this was our first show since we released the album. Emphasizing the new release felt important. Yet, it's so much fun to jam live, and, if you don't mind a little analysis, improvisation is what makes live music worth it. It is impressive to stand onstage and play every note exactly like the record, but if I wanted to hear that, I would put on the album. The beauty of live performance is in the energy, the uniting flow of music, and the possibility that it all could fall apart. This is true of any musical performance, but a good improvisational band can respond to the highs and the lows of the crowd, transcending the gap between the performer and listener to join both in a kind of harmony, each encouraging the other. Now, let me temper the expectations of a Midday Skip show and say that not every performance will transcend, but the chance is worth the try. While I can blather on about the power and audacity of witnessing live musical creation (I'm still anxiously waiting for when everyone listens to jazz again), I know that I'm probably in the minority and there's plenty of people who would rather hear three chords and the truth. It's striking a balance between the two poles that causes our arguments. The solution here is probably to just do both in one show: play longer form jams and intersperse shorter songs to let people catch their breath, and we have a longer time slot at a show at Madlife coming in May where we might not have to choose. Before that, though, we have a gig coming March 14th at Sweetwater Bar and Grill which we're all excited for. We hope to see all of you there when we play one song for an hour and get dragged off the stage.
Happy pitchers and catchers report day,
Tyler