This weekend

You know, this isn't just a forum for mindless rambling--it's also a place for us to tell you about upcoming PLUMP events. Such as this weekend's shows with the Sugar Free AllStars. This is an organ-drum combo that will set your toes to a-tapping. I insist that you come check out the shows. It is a moral imperative.

FRI AUG 27, Revolution, Bryan, TX (Sugar Free AllStars start at 9:30 pm and PLUMP will follow)

SAT AUG 28, Last Concert Cafe, Houston, TX (Sugar Free AllStars start at 10 pm and PLUMP will follow)

Don't Change that Dial

Many of you have asked us what PLUMP listens to while we are driving in the car while on road trips. Well, we will finally take an opportunity to shed a light on the subject. (editors note: I feel that it is important to tell you that when I write that "many of you have asked", I actually mean "no one has asked"--in that no one has ever asked us this question.)

PLUMP is a democratic band, so what happens is that before we get in the car for a road trip, we agree on an order as to who gets to pick the cd, and then we go around in circles. Jason normally gets the weirdness award as he will play us some of the craziest shit that we have never heard before (for example the Master Musicians of the Mektadi Peninsula playing some sort of reed-like intruments. 55 minutes of that will really affect you in a deep and profound manner).

This past particular weekend was interesting. I am somewhat of a creature of habit. The last time we had driven to Beaumont, we took two cars and Jason and I road together and listened to a couple King Crimson albums. I thought King Crimson matched the countryside, so I demanded first cd--but only after we got to the freeway. Al had recently bought Talking Book by Stevie Wonder and was rather unhappy with the results. Andrew offered 5 bucks for the cd right there, and Al said: SOLD. Before we got on I-10, we popped in Talking Book, and after 4 songs we all agreed that the album kind of sucked--with the exception of Superstition. (Please see Innervisions by Stevie Wonder--that is one of the best albums of all time.)

After the Talking Book debacle, we settled in to "In the Court of King Crimson" by King Crimson. This is their first album, and this is prog rock. Its the kind of album that every one appreciates for its complexity at first. However, I would say that one half of one second after the last song ended, AL demanded, "The album is over, TAKE IT OUT." Al had next choice, and he chose the acoustic beauty of "Quah" by Jorma Kaukonen. That's a good album. Then Andrew chose "Shotgun Willie" by Willie Nelson, which was also rather bad ass. Finally, Jason got skipped because he was sleeping on the way home, so I put in "The Family" by Del McCoury Band. So, Prog rock followed by acoustic americana/folk followed by willie followed by bluegrass. Neat.

Signed,

Dig Dug

Enjoy Beaumont

We had a fine time over in Beaumont on Friday night. The trip got off to a shaky start, as we arrived at the designated meeting point and then Andrew realized that he didn't have his bass. Damn it. I would have been absolutely frustrated and would have started with the screaming and yelling and crying and such and such, but I have been guilty of a) arriving in College Station and finding out I did not have my hi-hat stand AND b) arriving in Fort Collins, CO and realizing I left my cymbals in Lubbock, TX--a mere 600 miles away. SO, I was in no position to judge. Luckily, we only had to drive about 15 minutes to Andrew's house, and then we made the drive along beautiful 1-10 East. AHH, refinery country. For me, there is nothing like the smell and the hum of petroleum products being refined and churned and churned and refined.

The Vortex is a really cool place in Beaumont, and the sound in there is very nice. Two elements about the Vortex I really like are the dollar cans of Lone Star and the connection with Carlo's pizza--which is only bad ass.

Here are the sets we played on Friday night:

FRI AUG 20, The Vortex, Beaumont, Tx
Set I
Last Mile, Sweet Leaf, Last Concert, New Waverly, Time Tough, Dub>The Heights, Word Gets Around, Electric Netwerk Machine (of Rage?), Sophisticated Frothy>What's the Buzz (Reprise)>Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Set II
Timequake, Day Tripper, Osonova, If I had the World, Aslan, Scarlet Begonias>Scarfunk>Everybody Wanna Get Rich (Right Away), Varmint Poontang, Bumboklot, Buddy Boo, Memphis Soul Stew

We had planned that the first set would only be about an hour, but the set turned out to be about an hour and 40 minutes. The climax of set one was the Sophy through WTB through Voyage. After that jam--which lasted about 40 minutes--I was pretty much exhausted. Another thing that wore me out was the beer drinking. After we had played 2 songs, some nice person brought us a bucket of lone star beers. I got a little excited when I saw this (I always get extremely excited when someone brings me a bucket of beer), so I said, "OK. Here's what we need: what we need is a bucket of beer every 20 minutes until one of us passes out. Then, we need one bucket every 30 minutes." I did not realize that the good people of Beaumont would take me up on this. I got a good laugh when 10 minutes later there were 3 buckets on stage--this was much faster than the rate I had requested. That is lots of beer--especially when Jason and myself are the only hardcore beer drinkers in the band.

The second set was good too. We redeemed ourselves on the song Aslan, which we had kind of screwed up in Denton. It sounded much better on Friday night. I thought we really jammed well on Friday, and there was definitely some good listening going on on stage. The people in Beaumont were very nice, and we sold some cd's, so we were very happy. We should be headed out there again in either October or November. We left Beaumont at 2:15 am. Luckily, the drive is only about an hour and a half. Al volunteered to drive even thought he was scheduled to go to work in 3 1/2 hours at 6 am. He ate some Jolt gum--thing that would carry him through as the jolt products are advertised to do, but the gum wouldn't take, so Al got very tired and could not concentrate on his driving. Andrew sacked up and drove the rest of the way, even though he had school orientation at 8:30 am. I was incapacitated and unfit to drive because of the buckets of beer mentioned above.

Signed

DP (Original Gangsta)

Lingering Trash

You see,

When PLUMP hits the road, we all ride in my vehicle. Often while driving we stop at gas stations to fill up the gas tank, use the porcelein facilities, and purchase food and drinks. This can and does happen multiple times during road trips. Then, we come back home and do other non-band related activities during the week (usually in our own automobiles). However, I get constant reminders of the previous weekend's trip (and other trips) every day as I access different parts of my car during the week. I think the other guys like to leave me little gifts like half eaten candy bars and empty bags of chips or 3/4 empty bottled drinks. It's really kind of like an easter egg hunt, as this trash is hidden in pouches behind the seats, under the seats, between the seats, etc. Now, why these guys choose to hide the trash from me instead of just throwing that shit away is something that perplexes me--and occupies my mind 95% of the day. Is it for my fun? Is it for theirs? Is it fun when I cry myself to sleep every night? My car kind of stinks too. I could be wrong, but I think the stench was a rotten half eaten banana that was probably under a seat for about 2 months. As such, my advice to you is to let no member of PLUMP ride in your car without first making that person give a solemn oath not to leave trash in the car. Please use precaution and apply this advice on a daily basis. I am living proof how a lax attitude toward car trash accumulation can ruin your life.

Signed,

Dumpster Doug

Yes Yes Yes

I just want everyone to know that I love The Far Side comics. One of my favorites is luposlipaphobia. Luposlipaphobia is (of course) the fear of running around a table while running socks on a newly waxed floor while being pursued by timberwolves. Apparently 12-14 humans suffer from this disease on an annual basis.

For those not in the know, we will be playing this Friday August 20 in Beaumont, Texas at the Vortex (located at 2930 11th Street). We had a fine fine time there a few months back, and we are really hoping to pack 'em in over there, so people get ready.

For those REALLY not in the know, we will be playing Fri Aug 27 in Bryan, TX at Revolution and Sat Aug 28 in Houston at Last Concert Cafe. Both of these shows will be with our friends the Sugar Free AllStars, which are a organ-drum outfit out of Norman, OK. We had a real nice time with them up in OK a month or so ago. Anyhoo, we are hoping to learn a certain classic rock song from the 70's that features a little instrument called the cowbell to be played by PLUMP at SUGAR FREE together. I hope it works.

PLUMP in Dallas and Denton

We just came off a great run of shows this weekend up in North Texas. It was great hanging out with our pals in BAGG--what a good time. Both bands commented that it was the biggest crowd either had ever had in Dallas, which is nice indeed. I really like Club Dada. The set list for this show is as follows:

8/13/04 Club Dada, Dallas, TX (Opening for BAGG and Jones Thing)
New Waverly, Last Mile, Buddy Boo, Sweet Leaf>Word Gets Around, Everybody Wanna Get Rich (Right Away)*, What's the Buzz Reprise*, Oso Nova
*Featuring Chris Holt (of Olospo) on guitar

This show was lots of fun. The highlight of course was Chris sitting in on the WTB Reprise. It was a monster jam. Al confided in me later that 8/13/04 will be remembered as the day Chris took Al to school. That being said, I thought Al also wailed.

Saturday we slept in, ate a bad ass breakfast at a diner call Nick's, and then went and saw the movie "Garden State". That movie is incredible, and I highly recommend everyone check it out immediately. Do not pass go, or collect your $200. Then, we drove to Denton, had some coffee, did some people watching, and then headed over to Grady's house (BAGG's drummer) to listen to music and drink beer with Grady and his girlfriend Jessie. Grady has a very impressive vinyl collection, and we sampled many of the albums. By far the best was the George Duke/Billy Cobham Band recorded live in Europe in 1976. That was some funk madness. I really hope I can find this recording on cd, because it is the shit. Then, we headed over to Texas Jive, ate some really good pizza, and played a show:

8/14/04 Texas Jive, Denton, TX (opening for BAGG)
Timequake, Scarlet Begonias>Scarfunk, Sophisticated Frothy>Aslan, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Electric Netwerk Machine (of Rage?), Day Tripper*, Varmint Poontang*, Memphis Soul Stew*
*Featuring Gaah(n) from BAGG on keyboards

This was a cool show. Second time in Denton, and we have been fortunate to play in front of a good crowd that is very receptive to our music both times. We have a new section in Sophy that we debuted tonite--as well as transitioning this into Aslan. It was obvious to us that it was the first time to do this live because the new part and the transition were choppy to say the least. The highlight of the show for me was playing with Gaah(n) on the keyboards again. Varmint Poontang is my favorite song right now, and it totally rocked. BAGG rocked again. These guys are really good, and some really nice guys. I really like hanging with them. Al and Jason were playing percussion with BAGG for the last 30 minutes of their show (and I even joined in at the end during their version of Cross-eyed and Painless). Very cool. The night before BAGG played a version of Up on Cripple Creek that totally kicked my ass. I really like those guys. We should be playing with them up in Lubbock in September. Some people had a keg after the show, so we partied till about 4 am and then crashed, and then woke up early to book it back to Houston to watch the Simul-cast of Phish at Coventry. It was an action packed weekend to say the least.

Early Start Friday evening at Club Dada in Dallas

Hey, it has come to light that Club Dada has been double-booked for Friday night (Aug 13) between PLUMP, BAGG, and Chris Holt (of Olospo fame). However, Club Dada has been very accomodating, and all of the bands will play, which actually means a bad ass evening of music. AS SUCH, things will be starting a little early, and PLUMP will actually be starting at 9 pm. So come early and stay late.

Dallas and Denton this weekend

PLUMP is very excited to be hitting the Metroplex this weekend. We will be playing at Club Dada in Deep Ellum in Dallas, TX on Friday August 13 and at Texas Jive in Denton, TX on Saturday August 14. Once again, we will be sharing the stage with our buddies BAGG (from Denton). We have played with BAGG a number of times. They are four very nice and cordial fellows, and if there is one thing we like, its spending the evening with good people. One time we played with them in Houston at Last Concert Cafe, and everyone from BAGG and everyone from PLUMP was onstage wailing in what I like to call the "SUPER JAM CONTAINING ALL MEMBERS OF PLUMP AND BAGG THAT HAPPENED SOME NIGHT AT LAST CONCERT CAFE". I heard some of the best drunken cow bell playing from BAGG's guitar player that I have ever heard in my life. The guy was phenomenal. Ever since then, we have been trying to get Andrew's bass to sound more like a cowbell. Thus far, we have achieved mixed results. Another option is for Andrew to give up the bass, and play an actual cowbell.

Please come check us out in Dallas and Denton. PLUMP starts promptly at 10 pm.

Doug

Song titles

Well,

PLUMP has been working on some new songs, and re-working some old ones. As I am sure every one knows, the most important aspect of any song is the title. One of our new songs is called Varmint Poontang, after the famous quote by Bill Murray in Caddyshack: "The only good varmint poontang is dead varmint poontang". That song was almost called "Bejesus Belt", after another famous quote by Bill Murray in Caddyshack: "The great thing about this stuff is, you can play 36 holes on this grass, and then take some home and get stoned to the bejesus belt." When PLUMP has a three hour practice, typically 10 minutes is spent playing music, and 2 hours and 50 minutes are spent building a case for, and then having a high-spirited (and frankly sometimes a profanity-laden) debate on the merits and fine points of Varmint Poontang vs. Bejesus Belt for a song title.

Also, we have another new song in which Andrew was the primary writer, and as such he gets veto power regarding the song title. Andrew wanted to name the song Aslan (our second C.S. Lewis reference as a song title for those of you keeping score) and I wanted to name the song either "Coitus" or "You mean Coitus?" from the Big Lebowski. Andrew held firm. I offered a compromise, asking the the song be titled Aslan (you mean Coitus?). Alas, I was denied again. SO, the moral of the story is, it would not be inappropriate for you to come to PLUMP shows and scream out requests for Varmint Poontang and Aslan.

Doug

Hello Guv'na

It may take us a while, but eventually PLUMP does embrace technology. PLUMP has now entered the wonderful world of Blog. Now, we can put something out on the net anytime we want (and anytime Doug wants to share the inner-workings of his warped brain). Regardless, we plan on posting onto the website with band updates and info and discussions on new songs we are working on, etc. etc. etc., and we invite and welcome you to read them and hopefully chuckle to your heart's content. Excellent.

(P.S. A hearty thank you to Joe Greco for maintaining our website.)

Site Update!!

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