Last Concert Cafe on FRI JUNE 25

It rained everyday the 3 days prior to Friday. Then it rained for a couple hours on Friday. Luckily, all the rain was hours before the show was to start at Last Concert Cafe (outside venue). The skies were relatively lear. But it was hot, man. Really really really hot.

We had our buddies in Ashes of Babylon with us. We got the PA set up, and the lights out there looked really good. Ashes of Babylon brought out a lot of people, and it seemed like we brought out the people as well. Good attendance. Ashes of Babylon rocked the house and played an encore. We got up there and tore it up. Lots of hoola hoopers. Lights attached to ropes. Etc. Etc. Cool cool vibe, as always. I think we were starting to get wore out by our 4th song. It was so hot on the stage. I probably lost about 5 pounds in that 2 hours. I was totally exhausted once we were done, and the thought of having to take down the PA and load it all in the trailer made me want to cry. That is the dirty underbelly of rock-n-roll.

Lots of fun at the show,though. We played Gonzo Says, which we had not done in a long time, and it sounded really good. Very enjoyable.

It was good to see some folks we typically see at Luna in Lake Charles make it to Hosuton for this show--they were there to see their buddies in Ashes of Babylon, but maybe we were the icing on the cake.

PLUMP nominated for 2 Houston Press Music Awards

The Houston Press has just announced the 2010 Houston Press Music Awards nominees:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/?page=2

PLUMP has been nominated for Best Funk/Soul/R&B!! In addition, Jason Jackson has been nominated for Best Miscellaneous Instrumentalist!!

Voting commences on July 15.

Please plan on voting for PLUMP at the Houston Press website: www.houstonpress.com

PLUMP at SUMMERFEST in HOU on SUN JUNE 6

So we were invited to play at Houston’s Summerfest in Eleanor Tinsley Park. This was a very exciting event for PLUMP. Omar of Free Press Houston and Westheimer Block Party fame (along with Pegstar) were putting on this festival, which was in its second year. Two day festival, and we were playing on the second day. MMW was on the bill (first day), Flaming Lips were on the bill (2nd day), Slim Thug and Bun B (2nd day), a number of national indie rock and metal acts and DJ’s I had never heard of, and a bunch of local Houston bands across all genres.

The best thing that the organizers did was have such a number and wide variety of local acts. From death metal to punk to pop to us (whatever we are), the Houston bands were definitely celebrated and people checked out the local music to be sure.

The local and smaller national acts were allotted 25 minute sets, and we had to use the amps and drums provided by the stage. The equipment sharing I definitely understand and agree with. The logistic of all these bands and then moving amps on and off the stage would have been ridiculous. The set length is not really desirable (especially for us as 25 minutes is barely a warm-up) but understandable based on the number of bands the festival was putting on. Frankly, if the set times were longer, there would have been less bands, and we may well have not made the cut.

We actually practiced our set during the 3 practices prior to the show. Typically, we write a set list on a cocktail napkin about 40 minutes before we hit the stage for a show, but for a big time show/festival, it is nice to be prepared—especially with a 25 minute time limit. We agreed on a list of 6 possible songs, and then whittled this list down to 4 songs: Loose/Tight, The Guzzler, Reggae #2, and Buddy Boo. We even created segues into each song so we wouldn’t waste time in between songs and could maximize our 25 minutes. The first time we timed the set, it was 24 minutes. Perfecto. We went through it 2-3 more times, and it was always around 24 minutes. We can’t ask for much better than that. AND, we don’t have any 1 minute songs.

Sadly, none of us went to the festival on Saturday. On Sunday Josh, Jody, and I took Jody’s van into the Fest about 12:30 pm. The PLUMP set was scheduled for 2:35 pm on the KTRU stage. (Al and Jason, who also play in the Free Radicals, were playing at 11:00 am on the Main Stage, and per the instructions to the bands, we had to check in at our stage 1.5 hours prior to performance. As such, they were at the festival at 9:30 am). We felt high and mighty because we had a “band” parking pass, so we got to go to the road closure, show our pass to the cops, and then drive through to a parking spot close to the gate. AWESOME. We felt like big shots. We strolled on in to the festival. There were 4 stages open to the public: the Main Stage—which was down in the valley in Eleanor Tinsley Park; the Dos Equis stage—also in the “valley” about half the size of the main stage, the KTRU stage—up on the road and about 1/8 the size of the main stage; and the 29.95 stage, which was the mirror image of the KTRU stage. We checked in at the KTRU stage, and then started walking around. It was hot. I had a couple beers. Saw Grandfather Child (local Houston band on the Main Stage at about 1:30 pm), and thought they were very very very good. Heard a couple other bands, walked around, and such.

They were running a bit late on the KTRU stage, so we ended up starting our show after 3 pm. One thing I noticed (about all the stages), as soon as a band was done, then the audience would leave the front of the stage. Then, as soon as the next band started to play, the crowd would magically appear. This phenomenon was definitely true for PLUMP. We had a nice set. Good crowd. The stage had a couple power supply problems. Al had a bit of trouble with power for a second or two at various parts of the set. But that type of thing is to be expected at a Festival. It was very very very very hot. I sweat quite bit—luckily they had water bottles for us. After our set, we announced we were giving away 25 cd’s for those who would sign our email list. We gave 25 away.

About30 minutes after our set, a heavy downpour came on. Josh had left and Al was hanging with friends and Jason had gone to get beer. Jody and I were under the umbrella for a sno-cone vendor. They were very nice people. We met this girl who is in on the Austin scene and is informally helping bands with booking and such. Maybe she will help us get a better foothold in Austin. Who knows.

We caught the set of our buddies in Ashes of Babylon—very funky reggae and they had the crowd moving and shaking at the 29.95 stage. We will be playing with them at Last Concert cafe in Houston on June 25th--so don't miss it! Jason re-appeared with beers he had purchased at the store and smuggled in. Delicious. Soaking wet. I left the fest around 6 pm with the intent of catching a quick nap, but sadly, I didn’’t make it back to see the Flaming Lips. I feel like a loser.

Friday May 28 at Mango's

This was the second consecutive gig in which the journey to the gig was best by rain--more like a driving storm. Luckily, the distance from my house to Mango's, in the Montrose area of Houston is only 4 or 5 miles, as opposed to about 150 miles. I was hanging out in my driveway drinking beers with friends before leaving for the gig, and suddenly it started to rain heavily. But the sun was still out. Pretty neat vista, to tell you the truth. I was so hypnotized by this wonder of nature that I was quickly convinced, by my brain waves, that it was a quick passing rain, and I should wait it out. Twenty minutes later is was raining even harder, and my party dashed to the car 5 feet away, got soaked, and started driving. Luckily, by the time I got to Mango's (where the rest of the band was waiting) the rain had pretty much stopped, so we didn't have to load in in the rain.

This was our first ever gig at Mango's in Houston, TX. The venue is located right next door to Avant Garden, previously known as the mauseleum, and another name that I can't seem to remember. The venue is part of Omar Afra (publisher of the Free Press Houston and festival putter--oner of such events as Houston's Summerfest and numerous Westheimer Block Parties) vast holdings. Cool venue. Very nice guy.

This was a gig we had originally hoped to play with just Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans, a really great band from Hosuton that is on the roots-reggae type of tip. That had since been expanded to 5 bands. We were slatted, the other 3 from out of town. By day of show, we were slated to play from 9 to 9:45 pm, which was earlier and shorter than we are accustomed. Typically, when a band is relegated to the 9 pm slot, you pretty much figure you are playing for the bartenders and whichever band members from other bands are at the venue. Luckily, we had some people come out early and the other bands did as well. For 9 pm, there was definitely a mighty nice crowd. We played a 45 minute set, and according to Jody we played the first couple songs (Via Satellite and Alright) way too fast. Such is life. Still sounded good, and we played for some people who had never seen us before, and we played quite well (and apparently at lightning speed).

PLUMP On-Line Interview

To promote Summerfest, the good people at www.prettyriot.com were conducting short 5 question interviews with a number of the bands playing at the Festival. Check out the link above to see the PLUMP interview.

And by all means, come check out PLUMP this Sunday June 6 at Summerfest. We will be on the KTRU stage at 2:35 pm. Other bands on the bill for the weekend fest (June 5-June 6 at Eleanor Tinsley Park near downtown Houston, TX) include the Flaming Lips, MMW, and a slew of other national and Houston-based bands.

May 14 at Luna in Lake Charles

Again, the story of the day seems to be PLUMP was running a bit late on a Friday night. In our defense, there was this huge rainstorm that blew in around 6:20 pm into Houston. Jody could barely see while he was driving. We stopped for gas at the station by my house, and the power was out. About 10 miles outside of Houston, we saw a car that was on it's side. It had apparently skidded into that fashion about 30 seconds before we came upon it, because we could see about 4 cars had stopped and about 5 people were running to the car to give the passengers a hand. Luckily, we got through the storm, and it did not rain in Lake Charles during our show.

We pulled in and were very pleased to enjoy the case of Miller High Life tallboys that are usually awaiting our arrival at Luna. Lovely. We played an hour and a hald set that was pretty darn good. Nothing truly notable, other than we are real excited about playing the new songs, which is pretty much the case every show. Right now I think the band favorites are Guzzle it Down, Loose/Tight, Reggae #2, and the Sixer.

We hit the thunderstorm again about 20 miles outside of Lake Charles. We had to stop for a bit because it was raining so hard. Apparently, this was one of the tougher drives for Iron Man Jody, who is usually indimitable at the wheel during the late night drives back. Even he was having it tough.