LUBBOCK
On tour, you end up stopping at a lot of gas stations for pee breaks, snacks, and gas, of course. About a half hour outside of Lubbock, we were at a gas station when a couple came up to our van and the woman asked if we were a band. We said “yes,” to which she asked “Christian or Country?”
Do you know where you are?
First of all, an 11-hour drive makes a 7-hour drive feel like a 3-hour drive. We knocked ou the miles from Austin to Lubbock with minimal effort. A welcome relief after the previous day’s hell trip.
Kyle’s nostalgia for Lubbock knows no bounds, even now that a lot of his friends have moved away, so we hit a bunch of his favorite spots in the brief time we were in town, starting with Rosa’s Cafe and Tortilla Factory. Lonn and I got swiftly thrown into the fire, ordering a bunch of food without really comprehending what was going on. Welcome to Lubbock.
We met up with our pal Nate who recently moved from Columbus to Phoenix and was in Lubbock for work. He had broken his leg in a hit-and-run rickshaw accident. You read that correctly.
After dinner, we booked it over to Bash Riprock’s, a Texas Tech campus area get-you-fucked-up joint. After loading in, we saw one of the fliers for the show. Apparently, we’re from Chicago now:
Coppola played first, promising a set of “angry songs to make you think about sex.” We didn’t find it to be that, exactly. Their drummer was a pretty good player, but the whole act seemed like a contrived drama school interpretation of Brooklyn blog rock. Ho-hum.
Kyle got about 80% of his singing voice back for the show, so he thankfully took back the reins. There are still quite a few Sowash fans and friends in Lubbock, and a lot of them crowded around the stage. We dropped a couple of clams during the set, but everyone seemed pretty happy about the show.
Charlie Moore from The Annihilators set the tone for the rest of the night: “Leave now, or stay and get weird.” Coming from a big black dude wearing a skirt and a rebel flag as a cape, I took that as a promise and made sure I stayed. I love bands that aren’t afraid to fuck with people, and these guys put together a set of cowpunk that was blissful for those who got it and irritating for those that didn’t.
Nate put us up in his company-funded hotel room, so at this point I feel the need to tell you that this blog post is brought to you by Safelite Auto Glass. If you know the jingle, please sing it to yourself at this time.
SETLIST:
Can’t Make Up My Mind
My Resume
Instabilities
Impatient Man
Blast From The Past
The College Try
The 8-Track Recorder
Sharpshooter
(It’s Not) Easy To Be Hard
Big Dipper (Built To Spill cover)
I Would Like To Speak To Your Manager
When we woke up in the morning and left the hotel, we discovered that somebody had backed their pickup truck into the back of the Silver Fox:
Thanks a lot, asshole. At least it still opens, closes and locks. We checked the dash and found this note lodged under the windshield:
He did not leave his number. Fuck.
