COLUMBUS (TOUR KICKOFF SHOW)
So I’m sitting at work checking out Donewaiting.com and an interminable argument about how much love bands in the Columbus music scene are getting. Without dragging any of you readers into that tar pit, suffice it to say that some bands are more beloved than others, and it seems to stick in the craw of some on the short end. Typical music scene drama. However, embedded in one of these passionate diatribes was a sideways insult about us, The Kyle Sowashes:
As a little band, I’ve spent a handful of years around here writing and recording and singing and sweating and screaming and flyering and marketing online, and the same 15 people come. Bar owners have said they like working with us, like our sound, but since we’re not Sowash clones we don’t get the hipsters. And since we don’t have friends in the big local hip bands, or share members with them, the big bands could care less to play with us.
Here is where you cool kids tell us that since we don’t get the huge love the big kids on the playground do, obviously we suck as musicians.
Perhaps we just suck as disingenuous clique insiders?
Heh. Hipsters.
I’m not sure exactly what Sowash band this guy was watching, but we all got a good chuckle out of this. We’re (more or less) fat, old, washed-up dorks playing dated music that is woefully out of style. Did I mention that we’re fat and old?
Every once in a while we play a show for a nice, supportive crowd, and to be completely honest, it feels great. But the rest of the time, we’re playing either for a handful of friends or a crowd of people who can’t wait until we get off the stage so they can watch the band they actually came to see. And that’s fine too: some of our best shows have been in these awkward situations, and sometimes we can even squeeze some diamonds out of that coal.
Lucky for us, our tour kickoff show at the Treehouse was just about perfect. Great bands, great friends, and a pretty good turnout for a Thursday night. Jinx Palm opened the show. Frontman Jon Fintel recorded our last album, Yeah Buddy, at his Relay Recording studio. That bit of trivia aside, Jinx Palm delivered, but I’m a sucker for odd time signatures. Rosehips followed next, and this occasion marked the first time that Lonn and his wife Gretchen have ever played on the same bill together. I had seen Rosehips several times up to this point and I always thought they were good, but they seemed transcendent at the Treehouse. I always get this feeling about a band right before I leave for tour: two years ago, it was Heavy Mole that floored me right before we took off.
It was getting late by the time we set up, but people were nice enough to stick around until the end, even on a school night. We ripped through our set, probably not the best we’ve ever played, but with the right amount of energy for a tour tune-up.
SETLIST:
Blast From The Past
The College Try
Nothing Interesting
The 8-Track Recorder
Sharpshooter
Impatient Man
My Resume
Can’t Make Up My Mind
(It’s Not Easy) To Be Hard
The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton (Mountain Goats cover)
I Would Like To Speak To Your Manager
Cutout Bin
